Scientists have designed microscopic "grenades" that can explode their cancer-killing payload in tumours. The team will present its findings at the National Cancer Research Institute conference next week. They plan to use liposomes - tiny bubbles of fat which carry materials round the body - to release toxic drugs when their temperature is raised. The "grenades" are intended to avoid side-effects by ensuring the drugs target only the tumour.
Experts said such technology, which has been effective in animal experiments, was the "holy grail of nanomedicine". Cancer scientists are trying to harness the transporting abilities of these fatty spheres by getting them to carry toxic drugs to tumours. "The difficulty is, how do you release them when they reach their target?" Prof Kostas Kostarelos, from the University of Manchester. The Nanomedicine Lab in Manchester has designed liposomes that…
