Rice University have developed metal “nanoshells” to detect and destroy cancer cells

Researchers at Rice University in Texas have developed a new approach to fighting cancer, based on nanoscale particles that can both detect and destroy cancerous cells. The report appears in the April 13 issue of the American Chemical Society’s journal Nano Letters.

To this end, Drezek and West collaborated to develop a new imaging and treatment method based on metal “nanoshells” - tiny spheres of silica coated with a thin layer of gold. Nanoshells were invented by electrical engineer Naomi Halas, Ph.D., also of Rice University. Because these spheres are constructed on the nanometer scale (one billionth of a meter, the range where molecular interactions take place), they exhibit unique size-dependent behavior, such as tunable optical properties. This allows researchers to design particles that scatter and absorb light at particular wavelengths.

Drezek and West have successfully tested the separate imaging and therapy aspects of the nanoshells in animals and are now evaluating the combined imaging/therapy nanoshells in a mouse tumor model, which they expect to complete within the next six months.

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