New genre of sugar-coated 'quantum dots' for drug delivery
Monday, March 9, 2009 - 10:07
in Physics & Chemistry
Scientists in Switzerland are reporting an advance that could help tap the much-heralded potential of 'quantum dots' - nanocrystals that glow when exposed to ultraviolet light - in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. They are publishing the first study showing that giving quantum dots an icing-like cap of certain sugars makes these nanoparticles accumulate in the liver but not other parts of the body. That selective targeting could be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs to one organ, without causing the body-wide side-effects that occur with existing cancer drugs, they suggest. Their study is in the 18 February issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication...