Magnets Capture Cancer Cells

ABC News (July 22, 2008)

Magnetic nanoparticles coated with a specialized targeting molecule were able to latch on to cancer cells in mice and drag them out of the body.
The study’s authors, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, hope that the new technique will one day provide a way to test for–and potentially even treat–metastatic ovarian cancer.

“It’s possible that the particles may not ever have to go into the patient’s body,” says John McDonald, chief scientific officer of the Ovarian Cancer Institute at Georgia Tech and a senior author of the paper. “That would be preferable, because then you don’t have to worry about any potential toxicity.” (full story..)