A treatment kills cancer cells with nanoparticles in half an hour

A team of scientists from the University of Georgia, United States, have used nanoparticles and alternating magnetic fields to attack the cancer cells of head and neck tumors in mices.

The nanoparticles used were iron oxide nanoparticles (a component of many minerals also present in our body), which recently have become very important for their applications as carriers of antitumor drugs or molecules in the blood detectors linked to certain diseases , among other uses.

The results revealed that this system can kill cancer cells in just half an hour without being damaged nearby healthy cells.

The advance is in addition to other investigations that are noting the usefulness of these microscopic particles to treat cancer. In fact, nanoparticles can also be used to carry drugs to tumors and there supply them, very selective.

Qun Zhao, director of research and professor of physics at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, UGA says: "We've shown that we can use a small concentration of nanoparticles to kill cancer cells."