A new plant-based nanoparticle treatment for glioblastoma, the fastest growing and most aggressive form of brain cancer, has been developed by scientists in China and the US.
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Researchers from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and Yale University found that bardoxolone methyl (BM) – a phytochemical capable of self-assembly into spindle-shaped nanoparticles – was able to effectively target tumour cells when injected into mice.
“These nanoparticles are designed to overcome the dual challenges of effectively killing [glioblastoma] cells and efficiently penetrating the brain,” the team said in a paper published in the August issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Small Science.
These spindle-shaped nanoparticles have a diameter of just 50 to 80 nanometres and a length of around 170 nanometres. A nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre – an average sheet of paper has of thickness of around 100,000 nanometres.
Nanomedicine is an area that is showing a lot of potential in the fight against cancer. And the BM nanoparticles are displaying a lot of promise as a safe treatment for glioblastoma in particular.