RNA nanotech takes on cancer

September 19, 2005

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One of the great hopes for biomedical nanotechnology is that it could lead to cancer treatments that are more effective and less harmful than today's chemical and radiation therapies.

Researchers from Purdue University have developed nanoparticles that seek out, infiltrate and destroy cancer cells. The 25-nanometer-diameter particles consist of short strands of RNA, the messenger molecule that carries out instructions encoded in DNA for building the proteins that regulate the body's biochemical processes.

The particles are made up of three hybrid RNA strands that include molecules that find, mark or attack cancer cells. The strands are combined into a triangular nanoparticle small enough to penetrate cancer cells.

The RNA nanoparticles interrupted the growth of human breast cancer cells in laboratory tests and blocked tumor growth in mice, according to the researchers.

The researchers developed some of their RNA-manipulation techniques two years ago by building an RNA nanomotor.

Technology Research News: www.trnmag.com