Cancer is the well known
diseased state around the world with millions of people suffering
from it. For researchers it is a heap of task to
combat this disease. From several decades several treatment methods
are in practice. Among them, surgery and chemotherapy are the highly
recommending treatment methods. Physicians remove the tumor through
surgery and then suggest the high dosage of tumor suppressing drugs
also called chemotherapy. These methods can be followed when the
tumor size is around 100 mm3, provided the tumor is benign
and not metastatic.
What is with the metastatic
tumor? The cancer cells detach from the solid benign tumors migrate
to different organs in the body and grow into tumors. This state is
called metastatic state. The cancer at this stage is highly resistant
to treatment. It is difficult to remove the numerous tiny tumors by
surgery because the size of these metastatic tumors is very less.
Normally more lethal cancer like pancreatic cancer will be in
metastatic stage by the time the physician detect the presence of
cancer. Thus the treatment is very difficult and the chances of
survival also very very less. Thus the mortality rate increases.
Researchers are trying
different methods and novel materials to treat this kind of
metastatic cancer. With the availability of the high end technology
like nanotechnology, where the nano (10-9m) sized
materials are synthesized and exploited for different applications, there is scope to find some novel ways of treatment. A
recent paper in Journal of controlled release during the january
issue showed the new kind of nanomaterials called as nanochains are
employed to treat the cancer state. The nanoparticles were loaded
with drug and linked to the other nanoparticle by a covalent
linkage. The authors found that these materials are highly penetrable
to the deep locations of the tumor and releasing the drug will kill
the cancer cells. Novel materials like these are crucial to combat
diseases like cancer.
