The use of nanotechnology is one of the most promising areas for effective detection and treatment of various diseases. There are many pharmaceutical companies and medical research organisations that are closely working to utilise the maximum benefits available with the use of nanotechnology in the near future.
Researchers and scientists all over the world are exploring ways and means to revolutionise the way we detect and treat damage to the human body and disease in the future. Many techniques have already evolved but majority of them are still in the theoretical form and it can be realised only after a few years as remarkable progress is in the process in making the nanotechnology a reality.
Science & tech
To understand better, nanotechnology is nothing but the application of science and technology to develop novel materials and devices in various aspects of human activity spectrum. The range of materials will be so minute that it is measured 10 to the power of nine (109).
The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or actually being used today.
Exploring the best possibilities of use of this minute technology in the betterment of human lives especially in the healthcare sector many companies have already ventured on some of the specific objectives relating to drug development and delivery system.
Nanoparticles
In medicine, nanotechnology basically focusses on applications of nanoparticles, most of which are currently under development. Long range researches are still going on in various parts of the world to discover and manufacture nano-robots to make repairs at the cellular level. These minute robots are also referred to as nanomedicine.
As disease and ill-health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level, it is difficult to use today's surgical tools, as these tools at this minute scale are large and crude. From the viewpoint of a cell, even a fine scalpel is a blunt instrument more suited to tear and injure than heal and cure. It is here where nanotechnology is best utilised to treat a disease at the cellular level. Modern surgery works only because cells have a remarkable ability to regroup, bury their dead and heal over the injury.
One most promising application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allow direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease.
Nanotechnology can definitely be referred as "the manufacturing technology of the 21st century," as it has the ability to reach at the micron level to repair the damages through a systematic administration of nano particles.
Breakthroughs
If a broad range of complex molecular machines is developed economically (e.g, molecular computers) nanotechnology can be used to build fleets of computer-controlled molecular tools much smaller than a human cell and built with the accuracy and precision of drug molecules. Such tools will let medicine, for the first time; intervene in a sophisticated and controlled way at the cellular and molecular levels. They could remove obstructions in the circulatory system, kill cancer cells, or take over the function of sub- cellular organelles. Just as today we have the artificial heart, so in the future we could have the artificial mitochondrion.
Prof. Manohar Rao, genetics department, Osmania University, says, “If explored its potential to the best, nanotechnology will definitely give rise to new instruments to examine tissue in unprecedented detail. In fact, the essence of nanotechnology is to create and utilise materials and devices at the atomic level and the exploitation of those unique properties and phenomenon of matter at nano-scale.”
Not only in medicine, this technology holds great promise for breakthroughs in manufacturing, biotechnology, electronics, aerospace and countless other applications impacting our national security, economy and society.
Snapshot
In future, it is believed that the use of nano sensors smaller than a cell will give us an inside and exquisitely precise look at ongoing function. Tissue that was either chemically fixed or flash frozen could be analysed literally down to the molecular level, giving a completely detailed "snapshot" of cellular, sub-cellular and molecular activities.
The research works on nanoparticles are fast progressing, for example, nanoparticles that deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells are under development. In CytImmune publication it is revealed that tests are in progress for targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs and their final approval for use with cancer patients is pending,
Trial & error methods
Many trial and error methods are being researched by the scientific fraternity especially to treat the cancer disease using nanotechnology. For instance, to treat cancer cells using nanotechnology, many researchers attach ethylene glycol molecules to nanoparticles that deliver therapeutic drugs to cancer tumours. The ethylene glycol molecules stop white blood cells from recognising the nanoparticles as foreign materials, allowing them to circulate in the blood stream long enough to attach to cancer tumours. However researchers at the University of California, San Diego, believe that they can increase the time nanoparticles can circulate in the blood stream. They are coating nanoparticles containing therapeutic drugs with membranes from red blood cells and have shown that these nanoparticles will circulate in a mouse's blood stream for almost two days, instead of the few hours observed for nanoparticles using ethylene glycol molecules.
Researchers are also continuing to look for more effective methods to target nanoparticles carrying therapeutic drugs directly to diseased cells. Scientists at MIT have demonstrated increased levels of drugs delivery to tumours by using two types of nanoparticles. The first type of nanoparticle locates the cancer tumour and the second type of nanoparticle (carrying the therapeutic drugs) homes in on a signal generated by the first type of nanoparticle.
Using nanotechnology drugs can also be administered orally if one is not willing to take painful shots for treatment. In this case, the drug is encapsulated in a nanoparticle which helps it pass through the stomach to deliver the drug into the bloodstream. There are efforts underway to develop oral administration of several different drugs using a variety of nanoparticles.
A pharma company that has progressed to the clinical testing stage with a drug for treating systemic fungal diseases is BioDelivery Sciences, which is using a nanoparticle called a cochleate.
Firms and techniques
A few firms which have ventured in exploring the potential of nanotechnology especially in the field of medicine, drug development and disease treatment include, Nanospectra Biosciences, Nanobiotix, Z-Medica, Verigene system, and T2 Biosystems. They have done remarkable research in various areas especially for treating cancer, allergic reactions and other dreaded diseases like HIV.
Nanotechnology can be used to treat allergic reactions by using Buckyballs to trap free radicals generated during an allergic reaction and block the inflammation that results from an allergic reaction.
For treating cancer cells, nanoshells may be used to concentrate the heat from infrared light to destroy cancer cells with minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells.
A company called Nanospectra Biosciences has developed such a treatment using nanoshells illuminated by an infrared laser that has been approved for a pilot trial with human patients.
Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles, when activated by x-rays that generate electrons that cause the destruction of cancer cells to which they have attached themselves. This is intended to be used in place of radiation therapy with much less damage to healthy tissue. Nanobiotix has released preclinical results for this technique.
In traumatic patients, nanoparticles like Aluminosilicate can more quickly reduce bleeding by absorbing water, causing blood in a wound to clot quickly. Z-Medica is producing medical gauze that uses Aluminosilicate nanoparticles.
Nanofibres can stimulate the production of cartilage in damaged joints. Nanoparticles may be used, when inhaled, to stimulate an immune response to fight respiratory viruses.
Iron oxide nanoparticles can used to improve MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) images of cancer tumours. The nanoparticle is coated with a peptide that binds to a cancer tumour, once the nanoparticles are attached to the tumour the magnetic property of the iron oxide enhances the images from the MRI scan.
Nanoparticles can attach to proteins or other molecules, allowing detection of disease indicators in a lab sample at a very early stage.
New developments
Efforts are underway to develop nanoparticle disease detection systems. One system being developed by Nanosphere, Inc. uses gold nanoparticles, Nanosphere has clinical study results with their Verigene system involving its ability to detect four different nucleic acids, while another system being developed by T2 Biosystems uses magnetic nanoparticles to identify specimens, including proteins, nucleic acids, and other materials.
Gold nanoparticles that have antibodies attached can provide quick diagnosis of flu virus. When light is directed on a sample containing virus particles and the nanoparticles the amount of light reflected back increases because the nanoparticles cluster around virus particles, allowing a much faster test than those currently used.