Stopping Cancer With Gold!

One of cancer's most feared properties is its ability to spread (metastasize) and invade tissues. Cancer that has metastasized is often the most dangerous for patients. Researchers at Georgia Tech, however, may have discovered a way to prevent cancer cells from spreading. Using tiny gold particles and lasers, the team of researchers were able to interfere with the "bristly leg-like protrusions" that allow cancer cells to move and spread. Although this experiment was done in lab cultures, the study presents an exciting new way to treat cancer in the future.1

• 1Targeting cancer cell integrins using gold nanorods in photothermal therapy inhibits migration through affecting cytoskeletal proteins. Moustafa R. K. Ali, Yue Wu, Yan Tangb, Haopeng Xiaoa, Kuangcai Chenc, Tiegang Hana, Ning Fangc, Ronghu Wua, and Mostafa A. El-Sayed http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/06/21/1703151114