US finds WTMDs – Weapons of tumor mass destruction

(First of two parts)

It’s a worldwide threat. Regardless of gender, race and social status, cancer ravages both body and soul. It ushers in extreme endurance and for some a test of faith. Current treatment is an ordeal itself. It’s tedious, costly and leaves trails of unpleasant side effects. A quick one-time, inexpensive, non-toxic and painless treatment with hundred percent remission could be one of the dizziest daydreams of the afflicted, their loved ones, friends and medical experts…

The movie in my mind

Rare and great are the writers ahead of their time. One of Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi novels was actually derived from the creative genius of Harry Kleiner, a Hollywood screenwriter in the 1960s who laid out a screenplay for a sci-fi film about a submarine named Proteus boarded by a five-member crew zapped to a tiny speck and injected into the human body. The ship’s mission was to journey to the brain of a prominent scientist to get rid of a blood clot with a laser beam to wake him up from his comatose. This classic movie, Fantastic Voyage, flashed in my mind as I caught a newsbreak about a recent groundbreaking scientific development. Would you fall off your seat if I tell you that the movie’s story, minus the sex bomb Raquel Welch and the rest of the crew, is almost real nowadays?

Professor I shrunk the spheres!

Welcome to the 21st century! The process of miniaturization is no longer a stuff of science fiction. The field of nanotechnology has burst into the scene! Today, scientists routinely devise nanometer-sized objects which are at the cutting edge of research and development. We’re talking here of useful materials too small to see with sizes about a billionth of a meter!  Nanotechnology is a dynamic convergence of biology, microbiology, chemistry, physics, biotechnology, materials science and bioengineering. We have new vocabularies such as nanosensors, nanomagnetic particles, nanotubes, nanowires, to name a few. And now comes nanoshells to outshine Proteus! A single nanoshell is a 100-nanometer non-toxic gold metal sphere, bigger than an atom but much smaller than a cell. Such dimension is critical for effective interaction with biological systems at the cell level.

The terminators

Nanoshells are the future weapons in the battle against cancer. They are designed for specific annihilation of tumor cells. To enhance precise targeting, nanoshells may be designed to attack like smart missiles that seek and lock on targets by attaching proteins called antibodies on their surfaces which naturally stick to proteins uniquely produced by cancer cells. And the result — ka-boom! Cancer cells are history! This much-awaited approach of eliminating cancer cells is also similar to how a high-rise structure demolition squad operates. Demolition engineers can blast away with amazing precision a tall building without it crashing down on the surrounding buildings which may lead to a disastrous domino effect or fatal debris blasting in all directions. This neat way of bringing down a structure is basically because dynamite is placed in all the right places. The problem with current chemotherapy is that it’s like dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima; its radius of destruction is uncontrollable, it ended a war at the cost of civilian casualties. The injected drugs in the bloodstream during chemotherapy may exert their effects on healthy cells. This leads to more complications and hence adds suffering to the patient.

Die hard

DNA contains the instructions which proteins should be manufactured by the cell for the routine biochemical reactions within an organism. DNA components may be disarranged or deleted. This damage is referred to as mutation by scientists. DNA mutation leads to the production of mutant proteins. Cancer starts with mutations in the DNA of one cell caused, in most cases, by environmental factors, or may be inherited. These mutations result in abnormal growth, proliferation and death of cells. The human body has a mechanism of ridding itself of damaged and old cells. Normally, damaged and old cells are programmed to commit suicide by producing degrading enzymes and their remaining debris is engulfed by other cells. This process is called apoptosis. Cancer cells are mutants which have learned to be unresponsive to growth inhibitory signals that initiate apoptosis; they just refuse to die when they should. Their multiplication goes into hyperdrive with no recognition of boundaries that they eventually spread to other tissues establishing tumors in other parts of the body.

(To be concluded)

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Dr. Ronie J. Calugay obtained his PhD in Life Sciences and Biotechnology at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He is currently exploring exotic places in the Philippines which he has not done before, and is writing travel and science articles. E-mail him at [email protected].