A breakthrough in Nanotechnology: treatment of ovarian cancer

The above image shows both cancer and healthy cells in the same micro environment. We can see the magneto-electric nanoparticles which are loaded with the drug. When a low energy external magneto field is applied outside the patients body, the pores in the membranes of cancer cells open up while  the membranes of healthy cells remain closed. This is how the drug is delivered only to the targeted cancer cells which is obtained by controlled magnetic field on demand.

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all gynaecological cancers. Most cases of Ovarian Cancer develop in women over the age of 50. According to the American Cancer Society almost 14,000 women will die this year from ovarian cancer. Some can be cured. But most of the times the more advanced the cancer, the less chance the treatment will be curative. However, the treatment can often slow down the progress of the cancer. But now the time changed. There is a major breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer. The strikingly new way of cancer-killing drugs using nanotechnology. A collaborative product of an Oncologist and an Engineer looking to challenge the odds and save lives. 

The experiment was a great success in the lab. It was conducted by the researchers from Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the FIU College of Engineering and Computing. In their lab experiments, a chemotherapy drug named Taxol, which is used to treat ovarian cancer, was loaded onto a magneto-electric nanoparticle, and using an electric field the drug penetrated into the tumor cells completely destroying the tumor within 24 hours, while sparing normal ovarian cells. One of the major challenge was to spare the healthy cells during the treatment of cancer especially when Taxol is used. Because there might be a chance of side-effects and toxicity. But all these challenges have been successfully overcome. 

"This is an important beginning for us . I am very excited because I believe that it can be applied to other cancers including breast cancer and lung cancer", said Sakhrat Khizroev,Pd.D, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the FIU College of Engineering and Computing. 

I would like to thank Florida International University for this amazing and breakthrough information.