Nanoparticles With Scorpion Venom Slow Cancer Spread
Posted on April 22, 2009 Comments (5)

University of Washington researchers found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone, by combining nanoparticles with a scorpion venom compound already being investigated for treating brain cancer.
For more than a decade scientists have looked at using chlorotoxin, a small peptide isolated from scorpion venom, to target and treat cancer cells. Chlorotoxin binds to a surface protein overexpressed by many types of tumors, including brain cancer. Previous research by Miqin Zhang‘s group combined chlorotoxin with nanometer-scale particles of iron oxide, which fluoresce at that size, for both magnetic resonance and optical imaging.
Chlorotoxin also disrupts the spread of invasive tumors — specifically, it slows cell invasion, the ability of the cancerous cell to penetrate the protective matrix surrounding the cell and travel to a different area of the body to start a new cancer. The MMP-2 on the cell’s surface, which is the binding site for chlorotoxin, is hyperactive in highly invasive tumors such as brain cancer. Researchers believe MMP-2 helps the cancerous cell break through the protective matrix to invade new regions of the body. But when chlorotoxin binds to MMP-2, both get drawn into the cancerous cell.
Research showed that the cells containing nanoparticles plus chlorotoxin were unable to elongate, whereas cells containing only nanoparticles or only chlorotoxin could stretch out. This suggests that the nanoparticle-plus-chlorotoxin disabled the machinery on the cell’s surface that allows cells to change shape, yet another step required for a tumor cell to slip through the body.
So far most cancer research has combined nanoparticles either with chemotherapy that kills cancer cells, or therapy seeking to disrupt the genetic activity of a cancerous cell. This is the first time that nanoparticles have been combined with a therapy that physically stops cancer’s spread.
Related: Using Bacteria to Carry Nanoparticles Into Cells – Global Cancer Deaths to Double by 2030 – Nanoengineers Use Tiny Diamonds for Drug Delivery
Categories: Health Care, Life Science, Nanotechnology, Research, Science
Tags: animals, cancer, Life Science, materials engineering, medical research, Nanotechnology, Research, university research
5 Responses to “Nanoparticles With Scorpion Venom Slow Cancer Spread”
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April 23rd, 2009 @ 8:37 am
A very interesting and informative article. It is often very difficult to find scientific articles which is comprehensible to ordinary people. It is also a very encouraging article in relation to cancer cells may be stopped from spreading. Thank you very much
April 25th, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
Nanotechnology is getting more and more attention worldwide. Its not a long while before such nanoparticles and nano bots will actually be used commonly for treatment of various conditions, fighting tumors and cancer.
May 8th, 2009 @ 10:48 am
Interesting findings. I wonder why it is not in the mainstream news? In addition to the new technology that is developing, what about the untraditional methods such as an alkaline diet? AM
October 28th, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Naked mole rats can live up to 30 years, which is exceptionally long for a small rodent. Despite large numbers of naked mole-rats under observation, there has never been a single recorded case of a mole rat contracting cancer
February 15th, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
Researchers discovered of a specific protein called disabled-2 (Dab2) that switches on the process that releases cancer cells from the original tumor and allows the cells to spread and develop into new tumors in other parts of the body…