Original story

NetWeb 11.12.2006

Nanorobots perfect surround & destroy technique on cancer cells -

Medical Review hails new breakthrough

An important new step in the fight against of cancer was announced yesterday. Doctors in the Cancer Department of the Helsinki University General Hospital report that they have succeeded for the first time in destroying a cancer cell by the use of mechanical microrobots.

The robots, known as nanosomes, are smaller than 0.01mm. In essence, they are smart mechanical cells, and the treatment used in Helsinki involves implanting the nanosomes into the circulatory system of the cancer patient. The nanosomes can recognize cancer cells from among normal human cells, after which they attach themselves to the cell surface of the carcinoma. Then, having surrounded the tumour in this way, they feed cytotoxins to the cancer cell, arresting and ultimately killing it.

The treatment lasted roughly three weeks, as a new infusion of nanosomes into the patient’s bloodstream was possible only after the previously killed cancer cells had fallen off and revealed the next layer.

According to Professor Antti Vaivio, who heads the international team in HUGH, the cancer is as it were “exfoliated”, layer by layer, without damage to any of the surrounding healthy cells. He also commented that the nanosomes would appear to offer some very promising solutions to other problems associated with the treatment of cancer patients:

“In the not-too-distant future we believe it will also be possible to use nanosomes to destroy cancer cells even in cases where they are in difficult locations or spread around the body.” He cited the examples of leukaemia, metastatic tumours, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and certain types of brain tumour.

The cell-recognition programming in the nanosomes was developed jointly by the University of Helsinki’s Hartmann Laboratory and the Sloan-Kettering Institute. Some ten years ago the Helsinki research team discovered the recognition procedures by which natural killer cells in the body find a defective or hostile cell. The MediPro Corporation and the Hartmann Laboratory then spent five years developing for the nanosomes the kind of program that would allow them to target and destroy cancer cells. Delighted team-members now feel that the basic solutions have been found, and that programming to weed out other types of cancer is to be expected in the near future.

The December issue of the international Medical Review heralded the new breakthrough with a two-page illustrated spread, and the magazine’s editorial comment argues that the biomechanical nanosomes are one of the greatest strides taken by biomedicine in the last decade.

Hannula I. & Linturi R. 1998: 100 Phenomena. Yritysmikrot Oy, Helsinki 1998. Copyright notices ISBN 952-9508-18-2

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 4/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 2001–2011
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
  • Ilmiön ydin: syöpäsolut tunnistava nanokokoinen järjestelmä kuljettaa lääkkeen tarkasti kasvaimeen ja säästää tervettä kudosta.

Nanohiukkasiin perustuvia syöpälääkkeiden kuljetusjärjestelmiä on hyväksytty ja täsmäkohdennusta kehitetään jatkuvasti. Ne eivät ole tarinan mekaanisia itsenäisiä robotteja, mutta mittakaava ja lääketieteellinen tehtävä vastaavat ydintä.

Johtopäätös: nanomittakaavan kohdennetun syöpähoidon ydin toteutui oikeassa aikaikkunassa.