Everyday our society makes new advances in technology. Computers, cell phones and cameras manage to be made smaller each time that a new model arrives on the market. Not only have technologies that benefit our social or business lives reduced in size, but medicine also seems to be following this miniature trend. Recently, scientists from North Carolina State University have successfully made an advance in the realm of “tiny technologies” by developing a nanoparticle “smart bomb.”

By modifying a common plant virus to deliver drugs to specific cells inside the human body, researchers have produced a method for killing cancer cells without affecting surrounding tissues. Drs. Stefan Franzen and Steven Lommel discovered that modifying special properties of a non-toxic plant virus would allow for means of delivery of drugs to targeted cells.

These plant viruses, also known as tiny “smart bombs,” are each thousands of times than the width of a human hair. Scientists describe the plant virus as having a “built-in ‘cargo space’” of 17 nanometers that can be utilized to transport chemotherapy drugs directly to tumor cells. Lommel states that the virus has a tough outer shell that allows for the nothing to leak from the interior while the virus is in a closed state. This “smart bomb” opens slowly, giving the virus enough time to enter the nucleus of the cell before deploying any drugs into the cell. This method of slow deployment greatly increases the efficiency of the drug to kill the cancerous cell.

To give the virus mobility in the human body, scientists attach small proteins, or signal peptides, to the exterior of the virus that trigger the virus to “seek out” targeted cells. The attached signal peptides work as “passwords” for the virus to enter a cancer cell and expel cargo. Calcium also acts a key player for the “smart bomb” by ensuring that the cargo is enclosed in the virus. Since calcium is abundant in the bloodstream, but lower in individual cells, the virus detects the lower levels and opens for delivery of drugs into cancer cells.

Researchers believe that the “smart bomb” could lead to more effective chemotherapy treatments by reducing or eliminating side effects for cancer patients.

Discussion Question: What types of other research might be conducted on this “smart bomb” to ensure its effectiveness in killing cancerous cells?

Link to Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212125139.htm

Link to Abstract: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-12112007-155347/unrestricted/etd.pdf