WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., March 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. biological engineer says he has developed nanoprobes that can help locate tumors and might one day be able to directly attack cancer cells.
Purdue University Associate Professor Joseph Irudayaraj said he developed the nanoscale multifunctional probes to search for and attach to cancer cells.
"If we have a tumor, these probes should have the ability to latch on to it," Irudayaraj said. "The probe could carry drugs to target, treat as well as reveal cancer cells."
Scientists previously developed probes that use gold nanorods or magnetic particles but Irudayaraj said his nanoprobes use both, making them easier to track with various imaging devices. The probes contain the antibody Herceptin, which is used to treat metastatic breast cancer. The probes would be injected into the body through a saline buffering fluid and the Herceptin would find and attach to protein markers on the surface of cancer cells.
"When the cancer cell expresses a protein marker that is complementary to Herceptin, then it binds to that marker," Irudayaraj said. "We are advancing the technology to add other drugs that can be delivered by the probes."
A paper detailing the technology appeared last week in the online version of the journal Angewandte Chemie.
