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I’m no scientist (the last science class I took was Geology 101 my sophomore year of college) and I’m not really a betting man. But if I were a betting man and convinced that it wasn’t somehow illegal to issue a gambling challenge via the internet to strangers en masse here’s why I’d bet you all $5 that cancer is going to be cured within the next year:

Nanotechnology has taken off in recent years, and it’s coming to fruition in the fight against cancer. In fact there have been two major breakthroughs recently that have fueled my optimism over the whole issue.

The first was a study out of Washington University in St. Louis (WAUSL) using gold nanocages and lasers. Intrigued yet? The nanocages are roughly the size of a virus, constructed around silver particles that are then washed out of the cage in what I guess you could call a chemical nanobath. The cages, covered in a solution mostly used in laxatives, manage to slip by the proteins that would otherwise attach themselves to the particles and drag them out of the blood stream via the liver and/or kidneys.

The immune system thwarted, our nanocages manage to lodge themselves in gaps left in the tumor’s cell wall structure, creating a cast around the tumor. Once the cast is in place lasers at a particular, near infra-red, frequency are used to heat the cages. This disrupts the proteins keeping it alive and kill it off. Kind of like an intense, target-able fever that kills tissue.

The brilliant part is that the light doesn’t adversely affect surrounding tissue, so only the tumor ends up dying off (read the article for more on how that works, super cool). So far it’s only been tested in mice, and while the efficiency of the injections isn’t where they want it (only 6% of the injected nanocages actually attach themselves to the tumors and they want it at 40%) it certainly is promising.

What’s even more promising is the recent use of small-interfering RNA (siRNA) being delivered by nanobots to cancerous tumors in recent studies done at Cal Tech. The best part: they’ve been tested on humans and found 100% EFFECTIVE WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS.

Hold on a second… no side effects?!

Apparently so. They inject these suckers, the nanoparticles, and away they go. Attaching themselves to the tumors they release some interfering RNA which targets the inner workings of said tumors and *blegh* dead. The concept is nothing new, it’s been around (according to Technology Review) since 1998 but hasn’t been put into practice until recently. There’s a lot of tempering going on regarding the research, however, since it’s only been performed on three people. That and there hasn’t been FULL disclosure yet. But I don’t really care, it’s a hop and a skip away from a cure.

Which is why I’d bet you $5, right here and now; and though it’s possible, perhaps probable, that I would lose – we’re close. There’s another article out recently which leads me to believe that soon only sideburns and the creation of adamantium will stand between me and becoming Wolverine, but I’ll save that for later.

I also need to make an iSaber 4 post, but who cares? It’s almost April and I’m so far behind on video ideas/production that it’s almost comical in and of itself. Almost. There’s nothing funny about it, or notable, but almost. I’m hoping to work with @JoelBarbour in the next week or two on a few ideas, and my buddy Ted with one in particular in the near future.

–Want sources?–

Nanobots delivering siRNA to cancer cells: http://gizmodo.com/5501103/this-is-the-future-of-the-fight-against-cancer

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24841/?a=f

Golden nanocages heated with lasers to kill tumors: http://www.gizmag.com/gold-nanocages-cancer-photothermal-treatment/14512/

Filed under: News & Updates by Jay