Toward Development Of An "Eggshell-And-Yolk" Anticancer Nanomedicine

Scientists in Hong Kong are reporting synthesis and early laboratory tests of a new nanostructure that they believe may lead to the design of an anticancer nanomedicine. In a study scheduled for publication in the Feb. 21 issue of the weekly Journal of the American Chemical Society, Bing Xu and colleagues describe the structure as an eggshell nanocrystal.

Like a chicken's egg, the structure has an outer shell that encloses a "yolk" that can be released from the shell. In their experiments, the researchers used a yolk consisting of iron and platinum, the metal responsible for the activity of the widely used chemotherapeutic drug, cisplatin. Cultures of human cancer cells took up the nanostructures and the nanostructures released their yolks, which proved to have "exceptionally high toxicity" for the cancer cells.

"This type of yolk-shell nanostructures may lead to novel nanomedicine for treating cancers," the researchers state, describing nanostructures that may be coated with antibodies that specifically target cancer cells and thus reduce body-wide side effects that occur with traditional chemotherapeutic drugs.

ARTICLE #1
"FePt@CoS2 Yolk-Shell Nanocrystals as a Potent Agent To Kill HeLa Cells"

CONTACT:
Bing Xu, Ph.D
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Hong Kong, China


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ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 24, 2007

Reports selected from 35 major peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News. With more than 160,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society.

Chemistry's Growing Role in Cancer Research

Chemistry in Cancer Research: A Vital Partnership
Chemistry has an increasingly important role in research on cancer diagnosis, prevention and treatment. To spotlight that role, the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will cosponsor a special conference entitled, "Chemistry in Cancer Research: A Vital Partnership," Feb. 4-7 in San Diego, Calif. The program will feature presentations by prominent scientists on drug discovery, proteomics, the chemical biology of carcinogenesis, biomarkers and analytical chemistry, modeling and bioinformatics, and structural biology. http://acswebcontent.acs.org/meetings/specialty/AACR/index.html

The American Chemical Society - the world's largest scientific society - is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Contact: Michael Woods
American Chemical Society