Interesting medical discoveries

Gold Nanorods Shed Light On New Approach To Fighting Cancer Featured Article of the Week Researchers have shown how tiny "nanorods" of gold can be triggered by a laser beam to blast holes in the membranes of tumor cells, setting in motion a complex biochemical mechanism that leads to a tumor cell's self-destruction.

Tumor cell membranes often have an abnormally high number of receptor sites to capture molecules of folic acid, or folate, a form of vitamin B that many tumor cells crave. The Purdue researchers attached folate to the gold nanorods, enabling them to target the receptors and attach to the tumor cell membranes. "The cells are then illuminated with light in the near-infrared range," said Ji-Xin Cheng (pronounced Gee-Shin), an assistant professor in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. "This light can easily pass through tissue but is absorbed by the nanorods and converted rapidly into heat, leading to miniature explosions on the cell surface." Scientists have recently determined that gold nanorods and other nanostructures can be used to target and destroy tumor cells, but it was generally assumed that cell death was due to the high heat produced by the light-absorbing nanoparticles. The Purdue team discovered, however, that a more complex biochemical scenario is responsible for killing the cells. "We have found that rather than cooking the cells to death, the nanorods first punch holes in the membrane, and cell death is then chemically induced, in this case by an influx of calcium," said Alexander Wei, an associate professor of chemistry at Purdue. Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing Oct. 19 in the journal Advanced Materials. The paper, which appeared online last week, was written by doctoral students Ling Tong, Yan Zhao, Terry B. Huff and Matthew N. Hansen, along with Wei and Cheng.

Epigenetics

Antibodies for blood cancers

Medarex and PacMab To Co-Develop Therapeutic Antibodies

Posted on 2006-11-07 08:31:00

Medarex, Inc. and PacMab Limited, a private biopharmaceutical company, have entered into a collaborative agreement to develop novel monoclonal antibody-based therapies for blood cancers.

Beginning in 2007, the companies plan to undertake clinical trials for an existing antibody therapeutic for cancer developed by PacMab. Through a collaborative development program, the companies intend to use Medarex's UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System® to generate fully human antibodies for novel disease targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Medarex and PacMab plan to share product development and commercialization responsibilities on any antibody products resulting from this collaboration. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

PacMab Chief Executive Officer, Alan Liddle said, "We are very pleased to have formed a strategic commercial and clinical relationship with Medarex to exploit our antibody intellectual property in the oncology area.

"Initially we will focus on the most prevalent form of multiple myeloma, a serious blood cancer. At the same time, we will be developing our pipeline of additional drug therapies using our monoclonal antibody technology aimed at other blood disorders with unmet clinical needs," Mr. Liddle said.

"This new partnership with PacMab provides us with an opportunity to further expand our portfolio of oncology-based antibody product candidates," said Irwin Lerner, chairman and interim president and CEO of Medarex. "We look forward to combining our antibody development experience with that of PacMab's scientists."