Cooking Cancer Cells

Filed in archive Medical on July 18, 2008

© CarbonNYC

What happens when you take carbon nanotubes and coat cancer cells? Well, it gives you the ability to heat them up. What happens if you now expose those cells to near-infrared light? You may end up cooking those cells. This is what researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Texas Dallas are doing. They are using monoclonal antibodies to coat cancer cells with carbon nanotubes. Then, the induction of hyperthermia leads to cell death. By using this technique, you don't cook the healthy cells. You only destroy the bad ones. Ellen Vitetta, MD, PhD, director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at UT Southwestern is the senior author of the study.