Claim: Nanoparticles loaded with component of common spice kill cancer cells
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: difficult to access and avoids the drawbacks (adverse effects) of conventional methods, including the unnecessary destruction of healthy tissues. The cells are destroyed by exposure to light, rupturing membranes causing the release of digestive enzymes. AuNPs have high absorption cross sections requiring only minimal input of irradiation energy. Human breast carcinoma cells infused with metal nanoparticles in vitro have been shown to have an "increase" in morbidity with exposure to near infrared (NIR). Short term exposure in vivo (4–6 minutes) to NIR had undergone the same effect. "Hirsch et al" observed that extreme heating in tumours would cause irreversible tissue

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: these molecules can act as tumor-targeting drug delivery systems. Once within the tumor microenvironment, these complexes dissociate and release the chemotherapeutic, allowing the drug to take effect and eventually cause apoptosis. Gold nanoparticles have their advantages in drug vectorization. They can pack several different sizes and types of dendrimers and several different types of ligands in order to effectively treat different types of cancers. For example, research shows that 80~90% of breast cancer’s tumor cells have estrogen receptors and 60~70% of prostate cancer’s tumor cells have androgen receptors. These significant amount of hormone receptors play a role in intermolecular actions.

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: various biotechnological advances for in vivo delivery of drugs. To effectively target the malignant cells, the AuNPs were conjugated by polyethylene glycol, a process known as PEGylation. This masks the foreign particles from the immune system such that it arrives at its destination and increases circulation time in the system. Antibody conjugation lines the surface of the nanoparticle with cell markers to limit spread only to malignant cells. In vivo testing of mice that developed murine colon carcinoma tumour cells. They were injected with the solution of AuNPs that were allowed to spread after 6 hours. Surrounding cells were swabbed

title: Hadiyah-Nicole Green
text: of cancerous cells and decrease the amount of time it takes to target these cells. While conducting her doctoral research, Green was a member of a team that developed a laboratory method to insert nanoparticles into cancer cells while avoiding surrounding healthy cells. The tissue incorporating the nanoparticles heats up due to directed laser radiation, which then destroys the cancer cells. She first tested her ideas with cancer cells in a petri dish, then moved on to small animal models using mice. However much more research is needed to be able to extend this nanoparticle treatment to whole animals and

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: cell type targeting. A tumor consists of a multitude of cell types, and thus targeting a single type of cell is ineffective and potentially dangerous. At most, this type of targeting would only have a minor effect on killing the tumor. Tumors are constantly changing and thus phenotype targeting is rendered useless. Two main problems persist: how to get to the target and how to destroy a variety of cells. A direct method of accessing and destroying tumour cells can be accomplished by photothermal cancer therapy or photodynamic therapy (PDT). This procedure is known to treat small tumours that are

title: Chemotherapy
text: accelerated approval for the treatment of refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Nanoparticles are 1–1000 nanometer (nm) sized particles that can promote tumor selectivity and aid in delivering low-solubility drugs. Nanoparticles can be targeted passively or actively. Passive targeting exploits the difference between tumor blood vessels and normal blood vessels. Blood vessels in tumors are "leaky" because they have gaps from 200–2000 nm, which allow nanoparticles to escape into the tumor. Active targeting uses biological molecules (antibodies, proteins, DNA and receptor ligands) to preferentially target the nanoparticles to the tumor cells. There are many types of nanoparticle

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: kill bacteria using laser. Studies has shown the effectiveness of this method on killing Staphylococcus aureus, which is significant human pathogen responsible for a wide range of diseases such as skin and wound infections, toxic shock syndrome, septic arthritis, endocarditis, and osteomyelitis. In this system, the bacteria damage is caused by inducing strong laser which leads to overheating effects accompanied by the bubble-formation phenomena around clustered gold nanoparticles. The selective targeting of S. aureus was performed using a monoclonal antibody to one of the major surface-clustered proteins, protein A (spa), which is linked to the peptidoglycan portion of the cell

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: oxygen species (ROS) are formed within the treated cancer cells. While these species are not of concern to the dead cancer cells, they can cause oxidative stress in surrounding healthy cells if enough ROS are created leading to healthy cell death. This oxidative stress can be passivated using polymers as reducing agents (after degradation of the nanoparticle) and damage from ROS can be reduced using targeted uptake of the nanoparticles to the cancer cells. The mechanism for the oxidative stress caused by nanoparticles in the body is still the subject of study and provides a possible limitation when using gold

title: Nanocell
text: but has not proven to be fully successful, for tumor cells cut off from the blood supply can eventually develop “reactive resistance” to hypoxia. These resistant cancer cells could be killed by chemotherapeutic drugs, but once the vasculature to the tumor has been cut off, there is no way for chemotherapy to be delivered. Nanotechnology offers a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs and anti-angiogenic drugs in the same vehicle so that as the blood supply is shut off, chemotherapy is present to prevent any hypoxia-resistant cells from proliferating. Labs at MIT are in the process of developing nanocells capable of

title: Silver nanoparticle
text: and ester linkages that are not degraded immediately by natural metabolic enzymes. Recent chemotherapeutic applications have designed anti cancer drugs with a photo cleavable linker, such as an ortho-nitrobenzyl bridge, attaching it to the substrate on the nanoparticle surface. The low toxicity nanoparticle complex can remain viable under metabolic attack for the time necessary to be distributed throughout the bodies systems. If a cancerous tumor is being targeted for treatment, ultraviolet light can be introduced over the tumor region. The electromagnetic energy of the light causes the photo responsive linker to break between the drug and the nanoparticle substrate. The

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: which AuNPs can be used in cancer therapy is as agents for targeted drug delivery. Research shows that AuNPs can be easily functionalized and conjugated with a variety of molecules, including chemotherapeutic drugs such as Doxorubicin. One major complication with the current methods of treating cancer with chemotherapy is that treatment is not optimized to specifically target cancer cells and the widespread distribution of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout the body can cause harmful side effects such as naseua, hair loss, and cardiotoxicity. Since many of the characteristics of AuNPs allow them to target cancer cells specifically and accumulate within tumor cells,

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: deliver DNA to mammalian cells; thereby reducing tumor agents and increasing efficiency of electron transfer by modulating the activity of glucose oxidase. Current ongoing research by the Mayo Clinic laboratories includes the examination of AuNPs as messengers to deliver reagents capable of manipulating the angiogenic response in vivo. Current angiogenic inhibitors used today which are approved by the USFDA to treat cancer is Ayastin, Nexavar, Sutent and Affinitor. Gold nanoparticles are used as bacteria targeting particles in antibacterial therapy. The therapy targets bacteria with light absorbing gold nanoparticles (10 nm, 20 nm, 40 nm) conjugated with specific antibodies, thus selectively

title: Nanoparticles for drug delivery to the brain
text: drugs, paclitaxel and fenretinide, modified with low weight molecular protamine (LMWP), a type of cell-penetrating protein, for anti-glioma therapy. Once injected into the patient’s body, the albumin nanoparticles can cross the BBB more easily, bind to the proteins and penetrate glioma cells, and then release the contained drugs. This nanoparticle formulation enhances tumor-targeting delivery efficiency and improves the solubility issue of hydrophobic drugs. Specifically, cationic bovine serum albumin-conjugated tanshinone IIA PEGylated nanoparticles injected into a MCAO rat model decreased the volume of infarction and neuronal apoptosis. Chitosan, a naturally abundant polysaccharide, is particularly useful due to its biocompability and lack

title: Platinum nanoparticle
text: delivery uses platinum-based carries to move antitumor medicine. In one study, platinum nanoparticles of diameter 58.3 nm were used to transport an anticancer drug to human colon carcinoma cells, HT-29. Uptake of the nanoparticles by the cell involves compartmentalization of the nanoparticles within lysosomes. The high acidity environment enables leaching of platinum ions from the nanoparticle, which the researchers identified as causing the increased effectiveness of the drug. In another study, a Pt nanoparticle of diameter 140 nm was encapsulated within a PEG nanoparticle to move an antitumor drug, Cisplatin, within a prostate cancer cell (LNCaP/PC3) population. Use of platinum

title: Gold nanoparticles in chemotherapy
text: damage including coagulation, cell shrinkage and loss of nuclear straining. Results of their in vivo nanoshell therapy of mice revealed penetration of the tumor ~5mm.The metal particles were tuned to high absorption and scattering, resulting in effective conversion of light into heat covering a large surface area. The "El-Sayed group" studied AuNP effects in vitro and in vivo. They determined that the NIR wavelengths were converted into heat on the picosecond timescale, allowing for short exposure of CW to minimize possible exposure to healthy cells. In vitro, photothermal therapy was used in oral epithelial cell lines, (HSC 313 and HOC

title: RNAi nanoparticles to target cancer
text: of the cancer. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are being considered for delivering siRNA to silence AR. The most effective LNP to be found in vivo contains an ionizable cationic lipid 2,2-dilinoleyl-4-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-[1,3]-dioxolane (DLin-KC2-DMA). Serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) is an antigen that is present in high levels in prostate cancer. PSA levels following injection of these nanoparticles decreased and AR gene expression in tumors decreased. Papillary thyroid carcinoma is targeted using a polyplex nanoparticle. The core consists of biodegradable poly isobutylcyanoacrylate polymer and a shell of chitosan. After intravenous injection of this type of nanoparticle loaded with antisense siRNA, tumor growth was

title: HIV/AIDS research
text: that ongoing nanoparticle research showed that nanoparticles loaded with various compounds could be used to target infectious agents whilst leaving healthy cells unaffected. In the study detailed by this report, it was found that nanoparticles loaded with Mellitin, a compound found in Bee venom, could deliver the agent to the HIV, causing the breakdown of the outer protein envelope of the virus. This, they say, could lead to the production of a vaginal gel which could help prevent infection by disabling the virus. Dr Joshua Hood goes on to explain that beyond preventative measures in the form of a topical

title: Nanocarriers
text: synthetic molecules. Nanocarriers are useful in the drug delivery process because they can deliver drugs to site-specific targets, allowing drugs to be delivered in certain organs or cells but not in others. Site-specificity is a major therapeutic benefit since it prevents drugs from being delivered to the wrong places. Nanocarriers show promise for use in chemotherapy because they can help decrease the adverse, broader-scale toxicity of chemotherapy on healthy, fast growing cells around the body. Since chemotherapy drugs can be extremely toxic to human cells, it is important that they are delivered to the tumor without being released into other

title: Nanoradio
text: so, the nanoradio can act as a demodulator without the need of circuitry. Currently, chemotherapy uses chemicals that harm not only cancerous cells, but also healthy ones since they are put into the blood stream. Nanoradios can be used to prevent damage to healthy cells by remotely communicating with the radio to release drugs and specifically target cancerous cells. Nanoradios can also be injected into individual cells to release certain chemicals, enabling repair of specific cells. Nanoradios can also be used to monitor insulin levels of diabetes patients and use that information to release a drug or chemical. The implanting

title: Targeted drug delivery
text: of tumors. By utilizing both passive and active targeting, a drug-loaded nanoparticle has a heightened advantage over a conventional drug. It is able to circulate throughout the body for an extended period of time until it is successfully attracted to its target through the use of cell-specific ligands, magnetic positioning, or pH responsive materials. Because of these advantages, side effects from conventional drugs will be largely reduced as a result of the drug-loaded nanoparticles affecting only diseased tissue. However, an emerging field known as nanotoxicology has concerns that the nanoparticles themselves could pose a threat to both the environment and