Tiny discs attach to the membranes of cancer cells and are then spun with an alternating magnetic field to disrupt the membrane.
Credit: Nature
PARIS: Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.
The method uses a magnetic field a tenth as strong as used in previous efforts, and should have few side effects, the authors said.
Laboratory tests found the so-called ‘nanodiscs’, around 60 billionths of a metre thick, could be used to disrupt the membranes of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct.
The discs are made from an iron-nickel alloy, which move when subjected to a magnetic field, damaging the cancer cells, the report published in Nature Materials said.
90% of tumour cells killed
One of the study's authors, Elena Rozhlova of Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, said subjecting the discs to a low magnetic field for around ten minutes was enough to destroy 90% of cancer cells in tests.
In a commentary on the report in the same journal, Jon Dobson of Keele University in Britain said antibodies could be used to direct the discs towards tumour cells.
"This provides an elegant and rapid technique for targeting tumour destruction without the side effects associated with systemic treatments such as chemotherapy," he wrote.
Follow Cosmos on Twitter!
twitter.com/cosmosmagazine
Magnets
Can't you just see the "Magnet" alternate therapy sales people logging on to this one. "Get rid of your cancer whilst you sleep on our magnetic under blanket." "Walk your cancer away on our magnetic insoles."
Awesome alternative medicine tech
I love reading stories about developing technologies that open doors to medicine and will one day save millions if not billions of lives.
.
Hope to see more work in this area in the future.
.
Scott C. Waring
Author of Dragons of Asgard & UFO Sightings of 2006-2009
Is it in clinical trail?
I am curious if this study was tested on humans or is it just an idea so far? It sounds interesting considering the few methods that are available for the present cancer patients. It is sad that in the last 60 years nothing much has changed in treating cancer. Yes there are some treatments but on the big scale nothing essential has changed. We are still using chemotherapy which destroys both cancer cells and healthy slow growing cells ( like erythrocytes). So if those magnets could be transported with the help of antibodies will they be efficient ? Does anyone know if there is more research on this?