Cancer bomb zaps tumor cells in mice

[Roon]

LONDON - A smart anti-cancer bomb that acts like a Trojan horse can penetrate deep into tumors where it explodes and destroys cancerous cells without harming healthy ones, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who devised the molecular size bomb tested it in mice with skin or lung cancer. Mice given the treatment lived more than three times longer than untreated rodents.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8726644/

This is some exciting stuff!

[RedCloud]

1. Sex thread!

I'm snitching!

[supernova]

2. That's so cool

B-)

[autorank]

3. Thanks for sharing this. Great news!

[Kraklen]

4. Hmm, sounds like calicheamycin.

It's routinely, ad nauseum really, referred to as a tomahawk missle for DNA.

It's saccharide moiety targets the minor groove of DNA, while the aglycon triggers the enediyne warhead, which rips the DNA a new one. Cell death.

It's highly (really highly) cytotoxic, it kills regular cells along cancer cells. So it can only be used as a last ditch effort in terminal patients.

There's tons of work in delivering it specifically to cancer cells. I assume this is no exception. The news story is calling these "nanomachines," although I think we're really stretching metaphors here.