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Mavis Article
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Nano Technology The feasibility of using nano technology to help in the removal of asbestos fibres and silica particles from the body.
They have used this to remove tumours from Mice could they pick up fibres in a persons body. Would it be safe. Would they go berserk and damage in the brain. ???
https://nano-magazine.com/news/2017/11/24/biodegradable-nanobots-could-help-treat-cancer
I conntacted my friends in the Brunel Uni and the wonderful reply came back:- I have just had this answer --
Hi Mavis, The idea is interesting, but the practicalities are very complicated… but hopefully the below will explain a bit more.
Nanotubes
Firstly, when I read the subject header of nanotubes I seen a red-flag, because nanotubes (specifically carbon nano-tubes) are theorised to be the next asbestos. This is because they have a similar physical properties to asbestos, i.e. have a high aspect ratio, are resistant to chemical attack and remain within the body. This following article quite nicely summarises the current thinking of asbestos versus carbon nanotubes https://www.mrc.ac.uk/news/browse/carbon-nanotubes-may-pose-cancer-risk-similar-to-asbestos-and-we-think-we-know-how/. The scientific community is yet to say definitively that carbon nano-tubes are hazardous, but the evidence is mounting up against them.
Nano-bots
Personally I’m not a fan of the word nano-bots, because it invokes images of science fiction and Isaac Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage. I believe a better terminology would be Smart Treatments etc., because the bots aren’t miniaturised mechanoids, rather algae that have a magnetic coating that is used to direct them to a specific area of the body, but it is the terminology that they used so I’ll do the same…To simply answer your questions:
1. the only way the nanobots could be used to remove fibres is if there is a mechanism to localise them towards the fibres. However therein lies the problem because the nanobots within the article are developed using magnetised algae and asbestos fibres are neither bio-reactive or magnetic, so you couldn’t use magnetism or a biological process to draw the bots to the fibres. Beyond these specific nano-bots, when talking about micro-sized asbestos fibres, in order to direct anything against them, a physical reaction is required to localise the nano-bots to the fibres. Given the inert nature of asbestos fibres, this would be difficult to do.
2. However, the nano-bots could be used to treat mesothelioma (and other cancers) and is very much up-to-date with the current research regarding cancer treatment, i.e. developing a way to specifically target a cancerous growth and leave the healthy tissue (more on that later).
3. The nanobots shouldn’t have the potential to get into the brain and cause damage there. However, being an algae, a single celled micro-organism commonly found within ponds, they would be seen as an infection by the immune system, similar to a bacteria or viruses. Therefore for them to be safe, they must be compatible with the human immune system so as not to be seen as an infection (I won’t go into detail now about this as it will send me off on a tangent).
Engineering nano-bots/smart treatments to treat cancers
Currently many anticancer treatments are drugs which stop or limit cell division or metabolic processes (reactions that occur within all cells to sustain the life of the cell) and the drugs work because cancer cells have a metabolic rate which it higher than the normal cells around them. However, many anticancer drugs are administered systemically (to the whole body), resulting in the anticancer drug travelling around the body, and since the drug is non-selective it will affect the metabolic processes that are happening within normal cells. Problems arise when the anticancer drug reaches areas of the body where you have normal cells that also have a high level of metabolic activity, e.g. hair follicles, kidneys and liver, resulting in them being affected by the anticancer drug and causing many of the side-effects of the treatments. Hence, the current concept behind anti-cancer research is to localise a drug/therapeutic only to areas where there are cancerous cells and then release the therapeutic onto the cancer, thus reducing the effect on healthy tissues and potential for side effects.
Within the article that you sent, the nano-bots are guided to the cancer using magnets; I’m unsure of how because I couldn’t find the original article to check. Nonetheless, if the nano-bots can be pre-loaded with an anticancer drug/therapeutic then when the bots are degraded the drug/therapeutic will be released at the site of the cancer. The drawback of this article is that it is only a proof of concert study, hence it is very early stage research. To bring such a concept to a realistic treatment will take decades of more research because, for example:
1. By using an algae to deliver the drug, you are effectively introducing an infection into the body, which would most likely invoke and immune reaction
2. The study was performed on mice (unfortunately animal testing is a necessary evil of modern medicine), which are relatively small organisms, but how would the bots by directed within a larger organism such as a human
3. Would the algae/magnets have any secondary bi-products which could be harmful? etc. etc.
The use of nano-bots, or smart therapies is quite a way off, with many studies being in the proof of concept stage. However, the use of directed treatments, an example could be the immune-therapy that was used to treat your mesothelioma are closer to being available clinically and are going to become more prevalent in the coming future.
I hope this is helpful!
WOW!!! Absolutely Fascinating Dr. Ashley Howkins PhD, BSc. (Hons.) Senior Scientific Officer (Electron Microscopy)
Experimental Techniques Centre
Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
www.brunel.ac.uk
They have used this to remove tumours from Mice could they pick up fibres in a persons body. Would it be safe. Would they go berserk and damage in the brain. ???
https://nano-magazine.com/news/2017/11/24/biodegradable-nanobots-could-help-treat-cancer
I conntacted my friends in the Brunel Uni and the wonderful reply came back:- I have just had this answer --
Hi Mavis, The idea is interesting, but the practicalities are very complicated… but hopefully the below will explain a bit more.
Nanotubes
Firstly, when I read the subject header of nanotubes I seen a red-flag, because nanotubes (specifically carbon nano-tubes) are theorised to be the next asbestos. This is because they have a similar physical properties to asbestos, i.e. have a high aspect ratio, are resistant to chemical attack and remain within the body. This following article quite nicely summarises the current thinking of asbestos versus carbon nanotubes https://www.mrc.ac.uk/news/browse/carbon-nanotubes-may-pose-cancer-risk-similar-to-asbestos-and-we-think-we-know-how/. The scientific community is yet to say definitively that carbon nano-tubes are hazardous, but the evidence is mounting up against them.
Nano-bots
Personally I’m not a fan of the word nano-bots, because it invokes images of science fiction and Isaac Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage. I believe a better terminology would be Smart Treatments etc., because the bots aren’t miniaturised mechanoids, rather algae that have a magnetic coating that is used to direct them to a specific area of the body, but it is the terminology that they used so I’ll do the same…To simply answer your questions:
1. the only way the nanobots could be used to remove fibres is if there is a mechanism to localise them towards the fibres. However therein lies the problem because the nanobots within the article are developed using magnetised algae and asbestos fibres are neither bio-reactive or magnetic, so you couldn’t use magnetism or a biological process to draw the bots to the fibres. Beyond these specific nano-bots, when talking about micro-sized asbestos fibres, in order to direct anything against them, a physical reaction is required to localise the nano-bots to the fibres. Given the inert nature of asbestos fibres, this would be difficult to do.
2. However, the nano-bots could be used to treat mesothelioma (and other cancers) and is very much up-to-date with the current research regarding cancer treatment, i.e. developing a way to specifically target a cancerous growth and leave the healthy tissue (more on that later).
3. The nanobots shouldn’t have the potential to get into the brain and cause damage there. However, being an algae, a single celled micro-organism commonly found within ponds, they would be seen as an infection by the immune system, similar to a bacteria or viruses. Therefore for them to be safe, they must be compatible with the human immune system so as not to be seen as an infection (I won’t go into detail now about this as it will send me off on a tangent).
Engineering nano-bots/smart treatments to treat cancers
Currently many anticancer treatments are drugs which stop or limit cell division or metabolic processes (reactions that occur within all cells to sustain the life of the cell) and the drugs work because cancer cells have a metabolic rate which it higher than the normal cells around them. However, many anticancer drugs are administered systemically (to the whole body), resulting in the anticancer drug travelling around the body, and since the drug is non-selective it will affect the metabolic processes that are happening within normal cells. Problems arise when the anticancer drug reaches areas of the body where you have normal cells that also have a high level of metabolic activity, e.g. hair follicles, kidneys and liver, resulting in them being affected by the anticancer drug and causing many of the side-effects of the treatments. Hence, the current concept behind anti-cancer research is to localise a drug/therapeutic only to areas where there are cancerous cells and then release the therapeutic onto the cancer, thus reducing the effect on healthy tissues and potential for side effects.
Within the article that you sent, the nano-bots are guided to the cancer using magnets; I’m unsure of how because I couldn’t find the original article to check. Nonetheless, if the nano-bots can be pre-loaded with an anticancer drug/therapeutic then when the bots are degraded the drug/therapeutic will be released at the site of the cancer. The drawback of this article is that it is only a proof of concert study, hence it is very early stage research. To bring such a concept to a realistic treatment will take decades of more research because, for example:
1. By using an algae to deliver the drug, you are effectively introducing an infection into the body, which would most likely invoke and immune reaction
2. The study was performed on mice (unfortunately animal testing is a necessary evil of modern medicine), which are relatively small organisms, but how would the bots by directed within a larger organism such as a human
3. Would the algae/magnets have any secondary bi-products which could be harmful? etc. etc.
The use of nano-bots, or smart therapies is quite a way off, with many studies being in the proof of concept stage. However, the use of directed treatments, an example could be the immune-therapy that was used to treat your mesothelioma are closer to being available clinically and are going to become more prevalent in the coming future.
I hope this is helpful!
WOW!!! Absolutely Fascinating Dr. Ashley Howkins PhD, BSc. (Hons.) Senior Scientific Officer (Electron Microscopy)
Experimental Techniques Centre
Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
www.brunel.ac.uk
- nanobots