Cancer therapies are often harsh because eradicating malignant cells entails damaging healthy tissue as well. But three studies from the past year may present a road map for singling out the cancer cells alone.
In one, researchers working with mice at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Singapore used antibodies to target proteins inside cancer cells—an impressive feat, since the antibodies were long considered too large to cross the cancer cell’s outer membrane. Mice treated with the antibodies developed fewer tumors and lived at least 20 percent longer than untreated ones, holding the promise that similar techniques might eventually target a suite of intracellular cancer proteins.
A second study, out of MIT, used principles of computer engineering to design a molecular logic circuit that senses six different biomarkers, seeking out a chemical pattern unique to one type of cancer. When it finds that pattern, the circuit triggers production ...
