Thwarting Metastasis By Breaking Cancer's Legs With Gold Rods, Georgia Institute of Technology Study
Cancer cells kill most often by crawling away from their original tumors to later re-root in vital parts of the body in a process called metastasis. Now, a research team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a new treatment to thwart it by, in a sense, breaking cancer cells' legs.
Cancer cells often cover themselves bristly leg-like protrusions that enable them to creep. The researchers have used minuscule gold rods heated gently by a laser to mangle the protrusions, according to a new study. The treatment did a lot to prevent cell migration, a key mechanism in metastasis, in experiments on laboratory cultures (in vitro) of cancerous human cells.
Cancer cells often cover themselves bristly leg-like protrusions that enable them to creep. The researchers have used minuscule gold rods heated gently by a laser to mangle the protrusions, according to a new study. The treatment did a lot to prevent cell migration, a key mechanism in metastasis, in experiments on laboratory cultures (in vitro) of cancerous human cells.