生物谷報(bào)道：美國(guó)德州大學(xué)西南醫(yī)學(xué)中心的生物醫(yī)藥專家和德州大學(xué)達(dá)拉斯分校的納米技術(shù)專家正在試驗(yàn)一種治療癌癥的新方法,，他們把能夠識(shí)別癌細(xì)胞的抗體分子連接到微小的碳納米管上面,，在近紅外光照射下，碳納米管會(huì)發(fā)熱，把癌細(xì)胞殺死,。相關(guān)研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在最新一期的《國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS）上,。
在此項(xiàng)研究中，研究人員將針對(duì)淋巴腫瘤細(xì)胞特定靶位的單科隆抗體涂覆在微小的碳納米管上,。單科隆抗體是一種能黏結(jié)癌細(xì)胞的生物大分子,，碳納米管是由石墨碳原子組成的非常細(xì)小的圓筒,，當(dāng)遇到近紅外光時(shí)會(huì)產(chǎn)生熱量,。近紅外光可以穿透人體組織內(nèi)部達(dá)1.5英寸（3.8厘米），人的肉眼雖看不到它,，但夜視儀可以捕捉到它,，電視機(jī)遙控器也是通過近紅外光來發(fā)出控制信號(hào)的。
在淋巴癌細(xì)胞培養(yǎng)皿中,，涂覆有抗體的碳納米管黏附在癌細(xì)胞表面,，當(dāng)它們暴露在近紅外光下時(shí)，碳納米管開始加熱,，產(chǎn)生的熱量足以把癌細(xì)胞“煮”死,。而當(dāng)涂覆的抗體與淋巴腫瘤細(xì)胞無關(guān)時(shí)，碳納米管既不會(huì)黏附到腫瘤細(xì)胞上,，也不會(huì)殺死它們,。
該論文的作者之一，德州大學(xué)西南醫(yī)學(xué)中心癌癥和免疫生物學(xué)中心主任艾倫·維特塔博士認(rèn)為,，這項(xiàng)研究的引人之處在于使用近紅外光來產(chǎn)生過高熱,，因?yàn)槿梭w活組織對(duì)近紅外范圍內(nèi)的輻射吸收較弱，而一旦碳納米管黏附到腫瘤細(xì)胞上,，來自外部的近紅外光就可以安全地穿過正常組織,，殺死腫瘤細(xì)胞。維特塔指出,，這項(xiàng)研究證明,，在實(shí)驗(yàn)室中可以專一地殺死癌細(xì)胞。但即便如此,，在將這種新的治療方法推廣到臨床研究以前,，還有許多工作要做。
目前,，有多個(gè)研究小組都在從事利用碳納米管加熱來殺死癌細(xì)胞的研究,。維特塔的研究第一次證明，無論是抗體,、還是碳納米管,，都保持了各自的物理特性和功能，那就是定向黏結(jié)到靶位細(xì)胞并且殺死它們。（生物谷www.bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PNAS,，doi：10.1073/pnas.0803557105,，Pavitra Chakravarty，Ellen S. Vitetta
Thermal ablation of tumor cells with antibody-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes
Pavitra Chakravarty*,, Radu Marches*,, Neil S. Zimmerman, Austin D.-E. Swafford, Pooja Bajaj¶, Inga H. Musselman¶,||, Paul Pantano¶,||, Rockford K. Draper,¶,||, and Ellen S. Vitetta*,**
*The Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390; Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; and ||The Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute and Departments of Molecular and Cell Biology and ¶Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080
Contributed by Ellen S. Vitetta, April 11, 2008 (sent for review April 1, 2008)
Abstract
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) emit heat when they absorb energy from near-infrared (NIR) light. Tissue is relatively transparent to NIR, which suggests that targeting CNTs to tumor cells, followed by noninvasive exposure to NIR light, will ablate tumors within the range of NIR. In this study, we demonstrate the specific binding of antibody-coupled CNTs to tumor cells in vitro, followed by their highly specific ablation with NIR light. Biotinylated polar lipids were used to prepare stable, biocompatible, noncytotoxic CNT dispersions that were then attached to one of two different neutralite avidin-derivatized mAbs directed against either human CD22 or CD25. CD22+CD25– Daudi cells bound only CNTs coupled to the anti-CD22 mAb; CD22–CD25+ activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells bound only to the CNTs coupled to the anti-CD25 mAb. Most importantly, only the specifically targeted cells were killed after exposure to NIR light.
