Photothermal Cancer Therapy

The viability of new cancer treatments is being researched regularly, and while most of these treatments will likely not pan out as anticipated, the hope is still there that the cure for cancer is only a few studies away. Incorporating nanotechnology into cancer treatments has allowed for the possibility of photothermal treatment--the destruction of cancer cells with nothing more than light.

Cancer

• Cancer is a malignant growth of cells occurring within an area of the body. Unlike most diseases, which occur externally and invade the body, cancer grows and develops from within. This occurs where cells mutate unexpectedly or fail to die as programmed. Symptoms of cancer include night sweating, chills, fever and unexplainable weight loss.

Nanotechnology

• Understanding photothermal therapy requires an understanding of the basics behind nanotechnology. According to the National Cancer Institute, nanotechnology is the creation and manipulation of extremely small bits of matter. A nanometer is 1/80,000th the width of a human hair, and by definition all nanotechnology must be less than 100 nanometers in size, which is astonishingly small.

Photothermal Therapy

• Photothermal therapy is the idea of literally "cooking" tumor growths with heat energy by using simple lightwaves. The idea is to embed nanoparticles made of gold within the cancer cells, then apply focused energy in the form of light. This light will be absorbed by the gold particles and transformed into heat energy, which will then destroy the cells.

Considerations

• The main obstacle in adopting this technology is forcing the gold particles to be attracted to the cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue alone. This problem will likely be solved by focusing on the fact that cancer cells have properties unlike most other cells--one example of this is that they exude an abnormal amount of a compound called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The nanorods will be bioengineered with a compound called anti-EGFR, so that when they are put into the body they are attracted to the cancer cells like magnets of opposing polarity.

Benefits

• The primary benefit of this treatment is a new cure for cancer. Ancillary to that, however, is the fact that this treatment promises a solution for cancer that avoids collateral damage to otherwise healthy cells. This is far removed from the treatment methods of today, such as surgery and radiation therapy, where normal tissue is often unavoidably excised along with the cancerous cells, making photothermal therapy potentially a more delicate and precise solution to the problem of cancer.