Imagine tiny rapidly spinning molecules driven by light capable of burrowing through cell linings when activated or even deliver drugs, whichever suits the occasion?
Sounds so cool innit?
Well now you don’t have to imagine, since what I just described was a drill nanomachine developed by researchers at Durham, Rice, and North Carolina State universities.
Unlike existing cancer treatments, the process is described as non-invasive; it is also much faster and doesn’t come with the negative side effects associated with things like chemo and radiation.
This drilling action is performed using rotors that spin between 2 and 3 million times a second, boring through the membrane of cells to bring about cellular death. The entire drilling action is made possible via ultraviolet light.
Researchers describe these motorized molecules as nanomachines that are composed of a single cell. Ultraviolet light activates the nanomachines, which then set to work destroying the cancer cells. In one test described by Durham University, these motorized molecules were able to kill off prostate cancer cells within three minutes of starting.
Dr Robert Pal of Durham University said: “We are moving towards realising our ambition to be able to use light-activated nanomachines to target cancer cells such
as those in breast tumours and skin melanomas, including those that are resistant to existing chemotherapy.“Once developed, this approach could provide a potential step change in non-invasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally.”
Dr James Tour, a member of the international team from Rice University in Houston, US, said: “These nanomachines are so small that we could park 50,000 of them across the diameter of a human hair, yet they have the targeting and actuating components combined in that diminutive package to make molecular machines a reality for treating disease.
“In this study we have shown that we can drill into cells, animal cells, human cells using these nanomachines, they will attach to the surface and then a light will be shone upon them and they will drill right into the cell.
Furthermore, the nanomachines can make their way to the target cells and remain on their surface, lying dormant until ultraviolet light is used to activate them. Radio frequencies and other things could be used as alternative triggers in the future, though a lot of work remains. This breakthrough isn’t a viable cancer treatment option at the moment, but could be a standard practice at some point in the future.
The researchers are already proceeding with experiments in microorganisms and small fish and hope to move to rodents soon, ahead of clinical trials in humans if animal testing is successful.
