Custom nanoparticle regresses tumors when exposed to light

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Researchers at Penn State have developed nanoparticles that can inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors in mice. Attached to these nanoparticles are microRNA molecules which, when paired to messenger RNA molecules, prevent them from operating. In this case, the microRNA prohibits the messenger RNA in a cancer cell from creating proteins, which are essential for that cancer cell to survive, and, eventually, the cancer cell dies.