Oregon Public Broadcasting

A research team from Oregon State University has successfully used nanotechnology to deliver chemicals directly to a cancerous tumor.

So far the technology has only been used in animals. But as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, the hope is that one day it can be used to deliver medicines to tumors in humans.

At the center of the discovery is a peptide specially designed by the Oregon company ‘Gene Tools.’

The peptide can travel around the body, then attach to a cancer cell by targeting its low pH level. A special camera has photographed the peptides on the tumor.

OSU researcher John Mata says one day this technique could eradicate the need for the ‘cut, poison and burn’ approach that’s currently used to kill a tumor.

John Mata: “This was the first step in showing very clearly that we could make a molecule accumulate in tumors fairly specifically. Now we’re going to attach very specific therapies that will cause that tumor to die.”

Results of the research will be published in the December issue of the journal ‘Nanomedicine.’