Go ahead cancer, make my day!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Our bodies naturally fight cancer by making killer cells or NK cells. Could we help NK cells become MORE Lethal Weapons?
Enter Guk Park Seong and a team from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea.
They developed NANODRONES—tiny protein cages that allow NK cells and cancer cells to attach closely together. They act like handcuffs!
When NK cells and the cancer cells have a Face Off, bye-bye, cancer cells! In mice, the nanodrones stopped tumor growth with ZERO SIDE EFFECTS! After forty-three days, tumors shrank to a third in size and a fourth in weight!
This action movie tagline: Hasta la vista, cancer!
Reference: Park, S. G., Kim, H. J., Lee, H. B., Eom, S., Jun, H., Jang, Y., Park, S. H., & Kang, S. (2024). Protein cage nanoparticle-based NK cell-engaging nanodrones (nkends) effectively recruit NK cells to target tumor sites and suppress tumor growth. Nano Today, 54, 102075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2023.102075