'Nano Terminator' Particles: Made from liquid metal, Seeks and destroys cancer cells

Dubbed 'Nano Terminator' particles, the liquid metal particles could fight cancer by injection into the bloodstream. The biodegradable liquid metal boosts the effect of cancer drugs, targets the cancerous cells, and allows researchers to identify them.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed liquid metal nanoparticles that help facilitate anti-cancer drugs and are non-toxic to the body. Zhen Gu, one of the authors of the study, summarizes the situation Eurekalert reports.

"The advance here is that we have a drug-delivery technique that may enhance the effectiveness of the drugs being delivered, can help doctors locate tumors, can be produced in bulk, and appears to be wholly biodegradable with very low toxicity. And one of the advantages of this technique is that these liquid metal drug carrier - or 'nano-terminators' are very easy to make"

Published in Nature Communications, the study describes how the nanoparticles work. The nanoparticles are made of gallium indium alloy, a metal that is a stable liquid at room temperature and small enough to be injected into the bloodstream.

The researchers placed the bulk liquid metal into a solution that contained two types of special molecules called polymeric ligands. Then, using ultrasound, the researchers reducd the metal into tiny 100 nanometer diameter droplets, allowing the ligands in the solution to attach to the droplets.

After the common chemotherapy drug doxorubicin was mixed into the solution, the ligands on the tiny droplets attached to it. After being introduced to the bloodstream, the second kind of ligand searched for the cancer cells, allowing those cells to absorb the nanodroplets, releasing the chemotherapy drug into the cell. The nanodroplets grew in size as they start to fuse together, creating larger and larger liquid metal droplets that could be easily detected by scans, helping doctors locate tumors.

One of the highlights of using these particles is that they don't affect the healthy, non-cancerous cells. In many cancer treatments the procedure is very aggressive, killing all cells in an attempt to get the cancerous ones.

The researchers did a 90-day test with the nanoparticles on mice for with ovarian cancer. The tests showed that the nanoparticles were so effective that they nicknamed them "nano terminators". Over the course of the trial the metal did not seem to have an adverse effect on the mice.

As Popular Science points out, this isn't the first time researchers have used nanoparticles to help treat medical conditions. They've used them for obesity and bleeding wounds in combat.

Even though the study was a proof of concept the researchers hope to expand trials onto larger animals. The Nano Terminator, at present, offers a new light in the long and enduring struggle to develop a cure for the dreaded disease, cancer.