FAYETTEVILLE—A nontechnology research team from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UAF) and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) at Little Rock has received worldwide attention after publishing research in some of the world’s leading scientific publications about a method for magnetically trapping and then killing metastatic cancer cells. This revolutionary discovery gives hope for earlier cancer diagnosis and more effective treatment.

About 90 percent of all cancer deaths result from metastasis.  

 

“The development of methods for finding, counting and killing these potentially deadly metastatic cells in both the blood and lymphatic systems should be considered one of the top priorities in cancer research,” said Vladimir Zharov, PhD, director of the Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratory at UAMS. “Our hope is that this research will lead to more effective and efficient treatment possibilities and earlier diagnostic tools being put to use in clinics worldwide.”

 

The research involves injecting into the bloodstream golden carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles with a special biological coating that targets circulating tumor cells. A magnet attached to the skin above peripheral blood vessels can capture the cells, which can then be removed either with microsurgery or laser irradiation.

 

Researchers said the new method could potentially increase specificity and sensitivity up to 1,000 times compared to existing technology.

 

Articles about the research have been published in Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Cancer Researchand a number of other publications.

 

“Our discovery highlighted in Cancer Research earned us a selection for ‘Faculty of 1000 Biology,’ an award-winning Web site that highlights and evaluates the most interesting papers published in the biological sciences,” Zharov said. “I’ve also gotten calls from several cancer patients who are willing to try out our novel technique. Sadly, it’s not yet ready. But the response has been phenomenal and people understand the impact this can have once it can be medically applied. The long-term goal of these methods is to improve the survival rate in cancer patients.”

He hopes to see the technology moved into clinics in the next two or three years for use in trials that normally take about five years before a procedure is approved for widespread use. Zharov said there is potential for the technology to be comparatively inexpensive, especially if they validate the effectiveness of relatively cheap diode lasers similar to those used in CD players.  

Cancer could be just the beginning for medical applications for the technology, which also holds promise for the diagnosis and treatment of bacterial infections, viruses, and cardiovascular disorders such as stroke and heart attack.

 

“The future of medicine across the board is nanomedicine-based treatment,” Zharov said.

 

Jin-Woo Kim, PhD, one of the co-authors of the research papers and director of the Bio/Nano Technology Laboratory at UAF, said the process is very robust and simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly.

 

“The reaction of the carbon nanotubes and gold chloride occurs in water and happens at ambient temperature,” Kim said. 

 

The process is also less invasive.

 

“Our developed technique in combination with magnetic nanoparticles for the detection and purging of cancer metastasis in so-called sentinel lymph nodes is important for early cancer staging with potential to improve cancer treatment and reduce patient’s morbidity through replacement of a conventional surgical approach with non-invasive laser ablation,” Kim said.

 

Kim said the absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region is an important issue for non-invasive photoacoustic (through laser-induced sound wave) detection and photothermal (through laser-induced heat) treatment.

 

“Indeed, because most bio-tissues are relatively transparent to NIR radiation, targeting of tumor cells with strongly NIR absorbing nanoparticles could allow both highly sensitive diagnosis and targeted killing of tumors non-invasively in a whole body with laser energy, which is safe for surrounding healthy tissue,” Kim said.

 

The research expertise of Kim at UAF includes aqueous-phase “green” self-organization of nanomaterials and their biological and biomedical applications, in particular bio-driven nanostructure self-assembly, nanoscale bio/abio interfacing technology and nanoparticle-based disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

 

The research expertise of Zharov at UAMS is biomedical engineering with a focus on laser medicine and its integration with other techniques (e.g., bio-nanotechnology) and imaging (e.g., MRI, ultrasound, microwave, etc.). In particular, he is specialized in flow cytometry in vivo, high resolution optical imaging of individual cancer cells, laser-based chemosensitivity and radiosensitvity tests, image-guided laser treatment of cancer and infections with gold nanoclusters, and phototherapy of lymphedema.