A team of scientists at the University of Surrey, in Guildford, England, has developed smart nanoparticles that heat up to a temperature high enough to kill cancer cells, but then self-regulate to lose heat , so They do not get hot enough to damage the healthy tissue around the tumor. Thus, adjacent healthy cells are kept safe, something that does not happen with traditional chemotherapy, which causes collateral damage.
These nanoparticles, developed from zinc, cobalt and chromium ferrite, could be used in the near future as part of hyperthermic thermotherapy to treat cancer patients , according to this new study, published in the scientific journal Nanoscale .
The so-called heat therapy is a type of cancer treatment that exposes the body’s tissue to high temperatures – up to 45 degrees Celsius – to damage proteins and structures inside cells and thus reduce malignant tumors. It is still being valued and studied in research like this.
Scientists at the University of Surrey Institute of Advanced Technology, who have worked in collaboration with Dalian University of Technology (China), have created nanoparticles that, once implanted and used in a heat therapy session, can reach the 45 degrees Celsius we mentioned earlier.
But, once that temperature is reached, they self-regulate in a way that stops their heating. Likewise, the researchers emphasize that these nanoparticles are of low toxicity and that, therefore, it is unlikely that they will cause permanent damage to the body , something extremely important in these cases.
Avoid serious side effects
The director of the Institute for Advanced Technology at the University of Surrey, Professor Ravi Silva, explains regarding the results of the study that “this could change the way we treat people with cancer.”
“If we can keep the cancer treatment at a temperature high enough to kill it, but low enough so as not to damage healthy tissue , we will avoid some of the serious side effects of this vital treatment,” says the researcher.
“This is a very exciting development that once again shows that the research being carried out at the University of Surrey is at the forefront of nanotechnology, whether in the field of energetic materials or, in this case, in health care, “adds Silva.
For his part, Dr. Wei Zhang, associate professor at Dailan University of Technology, commented: “Magnetism-induced heat therapy is a traditional route of treatment for malignant tumors. However, difficulties in controlling the temperature have significantly restricted its use . If we can modulate the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles, the therapeutic temperature can self-regulate ”. And that would solve the problem.
The investigations that are being carried out in the field of nanoparticles to fight cancer are more and more numerous. Thus, the journal Nature Nanotechnology recently published a study signed by researchers from the Mayo Clinic, based in the United States, which has developed a new type of nanoparticle that managed to shrink breast cancer tumors in mice that were injected (size reduced from 70% to 80%).
Most importantly, the rodents that received this treatment showed greater resistance to tumor reappearance even when, a month later, they were again exposed to cancer cells.
