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12-04 :: April/May 2012
nanotimes News in Brief
A team of investigators from the Northwestern University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Northwestern CCNE) has developed star-shaped nanoparticle that can deliver a drug directly to a cancer cell‘s nucleus – an important feature for many potential anticancer therapies. The Northwestern CCNE team, led by Teri Odom, also reported that it was able to directly image at nanoscale dimensions how nanoparticles interact with a cancer cell‘s nucleus.
“Our drug-loaded gold nanostars are tiny hitch- hikers,” said Dr. Odom. “They are attracted to a protein on the cancer cell‘s surface that convenient- ly shuttles the nanostars to the cell‘s nucleus. Then, on the nucleus‘ doorstep, the nanostars release the drug, which continues into the nucleus to do its work.”
The nanoparticle is made of gold and shaped much like a star, with five to 10 points. The particle‘s large surface area allows the researchers to load a high concentration of drug molecules onto the nanostar. The drug used in the study is a short piece of single- stranded DNA, known as an aptamer, which like an antibody binds tightly to a specific molecular target. Approximately 1,000 of these aptamers are atta- ched to each nanostar‘s surface. The DNA aptamer serves two functions. First, it binds to nucleolin, a protein overexpressed in cancer cells and found both on the cell surface and within the cell nucleus. Then, when released from the nanostar, the DNA aptamer also acts as the drug itself.
Duncan Hieu M. Dam, Jung Heon Lee, Patrick N. Sis- co, Dick T. Co, Ming Zhang, Michael R. Wasielewski, and Teri W. Odom: Direct Observation of Nanopar-
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ticle-Cancer Cell Nucleus Interactions, In: ACS Nano, Volume 6(2012), Issue 4, April 24, 2012, Pages 3318- 3326, DOI:10.1021/nn300296p: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn300296p
In a University of Warwick-led study published in the journal Nature Chemistry, researchers from the UK (Prof Rachel O’Reilly, Dr Ronan McHale, and Joseph Patterson of the University of Warwick) and Australia (A/Prof Per Zetterlund of UNSW) outline a new method of polymer synthesis based on com- bination of segregation and templating – a pair of natural approaches that have evolved over billions of years that direct complex biological processes.
Ronan McHale, Joseph P. Patterson, Per B. Zetterlund, & Rachel K. O‘Reilly: Biomimetic radical polymerization via cooperative assembly of segregating templates, In: Nature Chemistry AOP, April 22, 2012, DOI:10.1038/ nchem.1331: