Nanotechnology in Medicine - Nanomedicine

The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or actually being used today.

Nanotechnology in medicine involves applications of nanoparticles currently under development, as well as longer range research that involves the use of manufactured nano-robots to make repairs at the cellular level (sometimes referred to as nanomedicine).

Whatever you call it, the use of nanotechnology in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat damage to the human body and disease in the future, and many techniques only imagined a few years ago are making remarkable progress towards becoming realities.

Nanotechnology in Medicine Application: Drug Delivery

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease.

For example, nanoparticles that deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells are under development. Tests are in progress for targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs and their final approval for their use with cancer patients is pending, as explained on CytImmune Science's website. CytImmune has published the preliminary results of a Phase 1 Clinical Trial of their first targeted chemotherapy drug.

Many researchers attach ethylene glycol molecules to nanoparticles that deliver therapeutic drugs to cancer tumors. The ethylene glycol molecules stop white blood cells from recognizing the nanoparticles as foreign materials, allowing them to circulate in the blood stream long enough to attach to cancer tumors. However researchers at the University of California, San Diego believe that they can increase the time nanoparticles can circulate in the blood stream. They are coating nanoparticles containing therapeutic drugs with membranes from red blood cells and have shown that these nanoparticles will circulate in a mouse's blood stream for almost two days, instead of the few hours observed for nanoparticles using ethylene glycol molecules.

Researchers are also continuing to look for more effective methods to target nanoparticles carrying threputic drugs directly to diseased cells. For example scientists are MIT have demonstrated increased  levels of drugs delivery to tumors by using two types of nanoparticles. The first type of nanoparticle locates the cancer tumor and the second type of nanoparticle (carrying the therapeutic drugs) homes in on a signal generated by the first type of nanoparticle.

If you hate getting shots, you'll be glad to hear that oral administration of drugs that currently are delivered by injection may be possible in many cases. The drug is encapsulated in a nanoparticle which helps it pass through the stomach to deliver the drug into the bloodstream. There are efforts underway to develop oral administration of several different drugs using a variety of nanoparticles.  A company which has progressed to the clinical testing stage with a drug for treating systemic fungal diseases is BioDelivery Sciences, which is using a nanoparticle called a cochleate. You can read the initial results from their Phase 1 Clinical Study here.

Nanotechnology in Medicine Application: Therapy Techniques

Buckyballs may be used to trap free radicals generated during an allergic reaction and block the inflammation that results from an allergic reaction.

Nanoshells may be used to concentrate the heat from infrared light to destroy cancer cells with minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells. For a good visual explanation of nanoshells, click  here. Nanospectra Biosciences has developed such a treatment using nanoshells illuminated by an infrared laser that has been approved for a pilot trial with human patients.

Nanoparticles, when activated by x-rays, that generate electrons that cause the destruction of cancer cells to which they have attached themselves. This is intended to be used in place radiation therapy with much less damage to healthy tissue.  Nanobiotix has released preclinical results for this technique.

Aluminosilicate nanoparticles can more quickly reduce bleeding in trauma patients by absorbing water, causing blood in a wound to clot quickly. Z-Medica is producing a medical gauze that uses aluminosilicate nanoparticles.

Nanofibers can stimulate the production of cartilage in damaged joints.

Nanoparticles may be used, when inhaled, to stimulate an immune response to fight respiratory virsuses.

Nanotechnology in Medicine Application: Diagnostic and Imaging Techniques

Quantum Dots (qdots) may be used in the future for locating cancer tumors in patients and in the near term for performing diagnostic tests in samples. Invitrogen's website provides information about qdots that are available for both uses, although at this time the use "in vivo" (in a living creature) is limited to experiments with lab animals. Concerns about the toxicity of the material that quantum dots are made from is one of the reasons restricting the use of quantum dots in human patients. However, work is being done with quantum dots composed of silicon, which is believed to be less toxic than the cadmium contained in many quantum dots.

Iron oxide nanoparticles can used to improve MRI images of cancer tumors. The nanoparticle is coated with a peptide that binds to a cancer tumor, once the nanoparticles are attached to the tumor the magnetic property of the iron oxide enhances the images from the Magnetic Resonance Imagining scan.

Nanoparticles can attach to proteins or other molecules, allowing detection of disease indicators in a lab sample at a very early stage. There are several efforts to develop nanoparticle disease detection systems underway. One system being developed by Nanosphere, Inc. uses gold nanoparticles, Nanosphere has clinical study results with their Verigene system involving it's ability to detect four different nucleic acids, while another system being developed by T2 Biosystems uses magnetic nanoparticles to identify specimens, including proteins, nucleic acids, and other materials.  

Gold nanoparticles that have antibodies attached can provide quick diagnosis of flu virus. When light is directed on a sample containing virus particles and the nanoparticles the amount of light reflected back increases because the nanoparticles cluster around virus particles, allowing a much faster test than those currently used

Nanotechnology in Medicine Application: Anti-Microbial Techniques

One of the earliest nanomedicine applications was the use of nanocrystalline silver which is  as an antimicrobial agent for the treatment of wounds, as discussed on the Nucryst Pharmaceuticals Corporation website.

A nanoparticle cream has been shown to fight staph infections. The nanoparticles contain nitric oxide gas, which is known to kill bacteria. Studies on mice have shown that using the nanoparticle cream to release nitric oxide gas at the site of staph abscesses significantly reduced the infection.

Burn dressing that is coated with nanocapsules containing antibotics. If a infection starts the harmful bacteria in the wound causes the nanocapsules to break open, releasing the antibotics. This allows much quicker treatment of an infection and reduces the number of times a dressing has to be changed.

A welcome idea in the early study stages is the elimination of bacterial infections in a patient within minutes, instead of delivering treatment with antibiotics over a period of weeks. You can read about design analysis for the antimicrobial nanorobot used in such treatments in the following article: Microbivores: Artifical Mechanical Phagocytes using Digest and Discharge Protocol.

Nanotechnology in Medicine Application: Cell Repair

Nanorobots could actually be programmed to repair specific diseased cells, functioning in a similar way to antibodies in our natural healing processes.  Read about design analysis for one such cell repair nanorobot in this article: The Ideal Gene Delivery Vector: Chromallocytes, Cell Repair Nanorobots for Chromosome Repair Therapy

Nanotechnology in Medicine: Company Directory

Nanotechnology in Medicine: Resources

National Cancer Institute Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer; This alliance includes a Nanotechnology Characterization Lab as well as eight Centers of  Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

Alliance for NanoHealth; This alliance includes eight research institutions performing collaborative research.

European Nanomedicine platform

The National Institute of Health (NIH) is funding research at eight Nanomedicine Development Centers.

Page 2: Nanomedicine based upon nano-robots

Note that the information on this website is not a recommendation of any treatment, product, company or other website. Please see the full disclaimer at this link.