A nanoparticle Trojan horse could cause cancer cells to self destruct

A research group from Nanyang Technological University (NTU; Singapore) have developed a novel approach to tackling cancer by using ‘Trojan horse’ nanoparticles. The Trojan nanoparticle was created by coating a silica nanoparticle with the amino acid L-phenylalanine, one of a certain set of amino acids that cancer cells need to survive and grow. The nanoparticle used in the Trojan horse conglomerate is an intrinsically anti-cancer therapeutic nanoparticle called Nanoscopic phenylalanine Porous Amino Acid Mimic, known as Nano-pPAAM. Nano-pPAAM has been shown to kill many different cancer cells including breast, skin and gastric cancer cells. Experiments in mice were also conducted...