Gold nanoparticles have the ability to turn near-infrared laser light into intense heat. Scientists are looking into how this “thermal scalpel” might be used to kill tumour cells. UAB gene-delivery specialists David T. Curiel, MD, Maaike Everts, PhD, and colleagues reported in the journal Nano Letters (April 2006) that they successfully piggybacked as many as 1000 gold nanoparticles onto an adenovirus capable of zooming in on tumour cells. “Achieving progress in retargeting adenoviral vectors for cancer gene therapy led us to hypothesise that gold nanoparticles could be coupled with this vector to combine hyperthermia and gene therapy as a therapeutic approach. Now we are investigating the tumour-killing properties of this hybrid,” Curiel said. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

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