A new method of killing cancer cells is being tested at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Biomedical Scientists and nanotechnology experts are targeting cancer cells by attaching cancer-seeking antibodies to tiny carbon tubes. These tubes heat up when exposed to near-infrared light.

The research will be published in a study to be available online, and in an upcoming issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study details how the scientists used biological molecules, called monoclonal antibodies, to bind to cancer cells. The monoclonal antibodies can work alone or combine with anti-cancer drugs, radionuclides or toxins to deliver seek out and destroy cancer cells.

The researchers used monoclonal antibodies that targeted specific sites on lymphoma cells with carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are tiny cylinders of graphite carbon that heat up when exposed to near-infrared light. Near-infrared light is invisible to the human eye. The light is used in TV remote controls to switch channels and may be detected by night-vision goggles. Near-infrared light can penetrate human tissue up to about 1½ inches.
In the scientists' cultures of cancerous lymphoma cells with the attached antibody-coated nanotubes, the targeted cells were then exposed to near-infrared light. The nanotubes heated up, generating enough heat to essentially "cook" the cells and kill them. By comparison, nanotubes coated with an unrelated antibody neither bound to nor killed the tumor cells.

"Using near-infrared light for the induction of hyperthermia is particularly attractive because living tissues do not strongly absorb radiation in this range," said Dr. Ellen Vitetta, director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. "Once the carbon nanotubes have bound to the tumor cells, an external source of near-infrared light can be used to safely penetrate normal tissues and kill the tumor cells."

Dr. Vitetta went on to say that demonstrating this type of cell killing was the study's objective, and that while moving the method from the laboratory to clinical studies would take time, the researchers were optimistic over the potential.

While carbon nanotubes as a means of destroying cancer cells with heat is being explored by several other research groups, this new study is the first to show that both the antibody and the carbon nanotubes retained their physical properties and their functional abilities - binding to and killing only the targeted cells. The properties remained intact even in a setting designed to mimic conditions inside the human body.

For more information, see: http://www.utsouthwestern.org/cancercenter

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