Virus - like particles have been produced that bind to cancer cubicle , deliver a treatment drug to tumors , and obviate the pauperism to unwrap the whole body to toxic chemicals . The work is still at proof of conception stage , carrying fluorescent proteins not chemotherapy , but it holds the potential for Crab treatment with greatly reduced side - effects .
virus are excellent at carrying proteins , and at finding their ways in the body to specific locations . aesculapian researchers have been experiment for long time with putting this to use by addingcancer - fight back drugsto viruses as “ payloads ” so that the rest of the body does n’t need to be peril to their effects . There ’s an obvious downside , however , since the computer virus could make the patient role sick in the process , although there are a phone number of ways to avoid this .
Dr Frank Sainsburyof the University of Queensland , Australia , has addressed this issue by creating virus - like nanoparticles ( VNPs ) with shells base on those of real viruses , but no genetic fabric inside , so they ca n’t multiply inside the consistency .
“ virus have evolved to control and protect bioactive molecules , ” Sainsbury said in astatement . “ They ’ve also evolved chic ways to get into cells and redeem these bioactive molecules .
Sainsbury based his VNPs on the Bluetongue virus , which infects ruminant , but not humanity . He told IFLScience the live virus has three plate , but his VNPs only habituate the inner two . These shells not only protect the shipment while navigating the blood stream , but the outer case ( or middle case in the natural virus ) binds to molecules that are over - express in tit cancers .
accordingly , Sainsbury ’s VNPs travel through the soundbox largely unhindered but become absorbed into prison cell when they encounter breast genus Cancer . Sainsbury told IFLScience the process by which the VNP break up within the cancer to release the load is not well understood so “ the exact delivery mechanism remains to be investigated . ”
Nevertheless , having published inACS Nanothat the test molecules can be incorporated into his VNPs , Sainsbury hopes to use chemotherapy drugs as a real cargo . If successful , the work would earmark doctors to administer far scummy drug doses , since rather than hitting much of the consistency at random , these drugs would predominantly end up where they are want .
grant to Sainsbury , VNPs based on flora viruses have been prove before in like shipway , but his squad is the first to make exercise of the Bluetongue virus ’s configuration .
The VPNs were produced by modifying Nicotinia benthamiana , a wild tobacco relative , to cook up them in its leaves with the fluorescent protein already inside .
Sainsbury said the work is unrelated to the most renowned computer virus - like particles , also invented at the University of Queensland , which spring the base of vaccines against the Human Papillomavirus .
