United States – A team of researchers from the University of Central Florida says we could one day target and destroy cancer tumors with nanotechnologies, thus preventing patients with the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

Professor Manuel Perez who leads the team that used a drug called Taxol for laboratory studies. It is one of the most used drugs in the arsenal chimiotherapie: “This product causes many side effects, unfortunately, because it attacks as well as cancerous tissue.

The team used special nanoparticles on Taxol only to cancer cells, so you do not attack healthy cells. The technical trick was to associate with particles of folate, a vitamin that cancer cells love. Thanks to medical imaging and a fluorescent dye, we could see the effectiveness of the process.

These nanoparticles can have a dual role: diagnosis by identifying the cancer cells and fight against them when combines anti-cancer agent.

Nanomedicine could soon be used at an early stage of the disease, both for diagnosis and for treatment.