Tiny golden bullets could help tackle asbestos-related cancers
Stefan Marciniak, Professor of Respiratory Science at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, tells us about a new hope to treat mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that mainly affects the thin lining that surrounds our lungs. It’s usually caused by exposure to asbestos. The outlook for mesothelioma tends to be poor, and because it's often diagnosed at an advanced stage, only about 5%-10% of people live for five years or more after diagnosis. Clearly, working treatments are desperately needed to tackle this devastating cancer.
Our research shows promise
Over the last decade, I’ve seen research interest in mesothelioma increase enormously. This has been not least of all due to British Lung Foundation efforts to increase funding in this area and encourage researchers to take up the challenge - like the Mesothelioma Research Network. And these efforts are starting to pay dividends.
Recent research carried out by me and my colleagues at the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds is bringing new hope for better treatments. The work, partly funded by the BLF through a donation made by the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation, has shown that ‘gold nanotubes’ could offer a new way to successfully treat mesothelioma.
Gold nanotubes
Gold nanotubes are tiny hollow cylinders one thousandth the width of a human hair. In this study, we demonstrated that mesothelioma cells ‘eat’ the nanotubes. When we shine laser light on them, the nanotubes absorb the light, heat up and kill the mesothelioma cells.
We would like to develop the work further to explore how we might use this to target cancer cells in the clinic. Laser light is able to penetrate deep into tissue without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. If we can get gold nanotubes selectively into mesothelioma cells in the chest, laser light could then get absorbed by the nanotubes, killing the cancer cells and leaving the healthy tissue intact.
While there are many hurdles to overcome before we’ll know if this treatment is successful and safe for people, we hope that this is a big step towards better treatments for mesothelioma.
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Beki is a PhD student from the West Midlands. She has several health conditions including severe asthma and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). EDS is a rare inherited condition that affects connective tissue. Last May, Beki set herself a fundraising challenge to complete 180,000 steps to raise money to mark World Asthma Day and EDS Awareness Month.