What's the News: Researchers have developed a new, more targeted way to deliver cancer-fighting drugs, in which some nanoparticles zero in on a tumor, then summon another type of nanoparticles that actually dispense the drug. This method, detailed in a new study published online by Nature Materials, piggybacks on the body's underlying biochemistry, using the chain of events that makes blood clot to call the drug-bearing nanoparticles to the site. How the Heck:
The nanoparticles that home in on the tumor are tiny gold nanorods, which can penetrate the blood vessels surrounding the tumor. (The blood vessels surrounding tumors, which grow rapidly as the tumor expands, tend to be more porous than blood vessels elsewhere in the body, letting the nanoparticles target tumors in particular.)
The researchers then shone light onto the gold nanorods. This heated the nanorods slightly, causing just enough damage to the tumor tissue to trigger the ...
