Kill Them with Light! Nanorods Effective Against Cancer Cells

A group of investigators at the Rice University announces the development of a new medical technique that could potentially forward the fight against cancer by a few decades. Their approach revolves around introducing as many as 2 million gold nanorods inside tumor cells.

These nanorods have an amazing propriety, which is to heat up when they are subjected to a certain type of light. If researchers can get them inside the cancer cells, and the shine the necessary wavelengths on the cells, the resulting heat would kill the cancer shortly.

This approach could be used as either a stand-alone therapy, or in conjunction with surgery. One potential use would be to kill off whatever cancer cells remain after the bulk of a tumor has been excised by surgeons.

The approach is not yet ready for the market, but experts at Rice want to begin human clinical trials as soon as possible.