From an article posted by AZoNano:

The American Cancer Society reports that every year, over 700,000 new liver cancer cases are diagnosed globally.

Currently, the only way to cure liver cancer is to surgically remove the cancerous part from the liver or to perform organ transplantation. However, an international study carried out by researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine has demonstrated that a new minimally invasive procedure targets and destroys precancerous tumor cells in the mice livers and invitro human cells.

The limitations when treating most forms of cancer involve collateral damage to healthy cells near tumor sites. For more than a decade we have studied the use of nanotechnology to test whether targeted treatments would reduce or eliminate damage to nearby healthy cells. Of particular interest has been the use of green nanotechnology approaches pioneered here at MU that use natural chemical compounds from plants.

Kattesh Katti, PhD, lead author of the study and Curators’ Professor of Radiology and Physics at the MU School of Medicine

The research, which was carried out in Egypt and the United States, involved intravenously introducing gold nanoparticles enclosed within a protective stabilizer, known as gum Arabic, into the livers of mice and subsequently heating the nanoparticles using a laser through a process called photothermal therapy.

 

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Image Credit:     Justin Kelley, MU Health

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