Abstract
One of the worst diseases in existence today is cancer. This is
because we don’t exactly have a cure for it and it takes so many lives
every year globally and causes great emotional and physical suffering.
Luckily there is a cure on the horizon and it is nanoparticles. The
nanoparticles work by releasing cancer killing chemicals nearer to the
cancerous cells causing less collateral damage to the nearby healthy
cells. With this new technology on the horizon the lives taken by
cancer should definitely be reduced.
The futures answer to Cancer
One of the worst diseases in the world is cancer. Cancer
causes great suffering in many ways. A lot of suffering is dealt to
the people who have the diseases, but there is also an enormous amount
of suffering dealt to the family and friends of the people who have
the disease. Cancer is basically the mutation in a cell’s DNA causing
it to create ineffective daughter cells which create more ineffective
cells that invade other tissue and cause damage to the other tissues
and cells.
Current technology
There is multitude of current methods of cancer treatment
used today. Three of the cancer treatments are surgery, radiation, and
chemotherapy. Surgery is used if the cancer is localized in one area
of the body. Surgery can also be used with along with other treatments
like radiation and chemotherapy. Currently surgery offers the best
chance of being cured for many different forms of cancer. Another
method currently used for treating cancer is radiation. Radiation is
used similarly to cancer in that it is focused on localized cancers to
inhibit the growth of the cancers cells. Radiation is given in two
forms one is external high-energy rays or implants that are put in the
body near the tumor. Even though radiation inhibits the growth of the
cancer there are some side effects, like fatigue (tiredness), skin
changes in the area of treatment, and some loss of appetite according
to the “American Cancer Society”. Other side effects are usually
related to the treatment of specific areas, such as hair loss
following radiation treatment to the head according to the “American
Cancer Society”. Even though there are side effects most of them go
away after time. A third way of treating cancer is chemotherapy also
known as chemo. Chemo is different from radiation and surgery. Unlike
surgery and radiation which is used for localized cancer treatment,
chemotherapy is used to treat cancer cells that have been spread to
other parts of the body by the blood stream, and depending in the type
of cancer Chemo can be used to cure the cancer, keep the cancer from
spreading, to slow the cancers growth, to kill the cancer cells that
may have spread to other parts of the body, or to relieve symptoms of
the cancer. Chemo is a treatment of a variety of strong drugs usually
given by mouth or injection according to “American Cancer Society”.
Even though chemo can help with cancer it is not perfect at curing it
in that there are some side effects like nausea and vomiting,
short-term hair loss, increased chance of infections, or fatigue
(tiredness). Luckily most of the side effects due to chemo can be
controlled with medicines, supportive care, or by changing the
treatment schedule according to the “American Cancer Society”.
Currently these are some of the treatment options that are used to
treat the awful disease known as cancer.
History
With the great disease known as cancer taking millions of
loved ones every year and with current treatment options only able to
help to certain level often causing damage to other body systems, it
is time to embrace a new way of treating this disease known as cancer
by using nanotechnology. There is evidence of the use of
nanotechnology starting around 30B.C.E. in art. There is a cup in a
the British museum of London that has evidence of gold and silver
nanoparticles in it that cause it to change color depending on the way
it is illuminated according to “Discover Nano Timeline” From there on
there is evidence of nanotechnology being used in Medieval times in
the making of stained glass. During the Renaissance nanotechnology
was used by Artisans in pottery. Tiny particles of copper and silver
caused a metallic effect or an iridescent effect, which was very
popular at the time. Later on in the 19th Century nanotechnology was
used in photography. Over the years nanotechnology continued to be
used in an array of different things and by 1947 it was being used in
the development of more powerful computers. Nanotechnology continued
in the advancing of computer technology. Later on in the 20th Century
around 1951 the ability to see atoms and there arrangement on the
surface was a reality. In the year 1974 the term nanotechnology was
first coined to describe production technology to get high accuracy
and ultra fine dimensions. In 1991 they discovered carbon nanotubes
which can conduct electricity better than copper and transfer heat
better than diamonds and is among the strongest materials on earth
according to “Discover Nano timeline”. The entire history of
nanotechnology is going to come together to help with creating a cure
for cancer.
Future Technology
Even though we have treatment options today, they don’t
always work and can cause a lot of collateral damage to the
surrounding tissues. Luckily for us there is a new idea on the horizon
that should be able to help us in the defeat of this terrible
adversary known as cancer. The idea is to use nanoparticles filled
with cancer curing agents. These cancer curing agents would be
targeted at the part of the body in which the tumor that is harming
the patient’s body is located. After the nanoparticles are at the area
of the tumor they will release the cancer curing drugs they are
carrying so they will destroy the tumor causing less collateral damage
to the surrounding tissues because the drugs are more focused. Another
feature is that these nanoparticles could be used to release their
drugs over a long period of time so you only have to get to go for
Chemo once rather than multiple times. Researchers have developed
nanoparticles that can release multiple drugs at once to different
parts of the cancers cells. This process should reduce the resistance
to Chemotherapy meaning the chemo will kill the cancer cells more
effectively. Also there is the idea to have nanoparticles take light
reactant dyes into the cancer cells and then exposing them to light
killing the cancers cells. With this great futuristic idea the ability
to cure cancer more successfully should be in reach fairly soon.
Breakthroughs
Currently cancer kills 7.6 million people every year and
that number is supposed to grow by 80% by 2030 according to the “CDC
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)”. So if there are so many
new technologies why are they not being used currently? The answer is
because there are a few necessary breakthroughs required in order for
these new cancer cures to become a reality. One of the breakthroughs
that is needed is for the production of nanoparticles to be increased.
Another break through required is to get approval from the health
agencies like the FDA. Also more research would have to be done on how
to dispose of the naoparticles without harming the external
environment. There would also have to be more research done on how to
keep nanoparticles out of healthy cells in the body. A way to test to
see how to keep nanoparticles out of the external environment is to
take a room that is sealed off from the rest of the world, put in
water and a proposed disposal system. Then begin to see if when the
nanoparticles are disposed in the proposed disposal system
successfully disposes of the nanoparticles without contaminating the
water or the air that is in the room. Until more research is done and
these breakthroughs happen, the hope that nanotecnolgy will eradicate
cancer will be a work in process.
Design process
When our group decided to focus on cancer as the problem
we were going to solve with nanotechnology we had to determine which
type of nanotechnology. The one we chose was nanoparticles because we
thought it would be the most practical one. Another type of
nanotechnology we considered was nanobots. We didn’t choose that
process because we didn’t think there was going to be enough feasible
information on it. Our group also considered using nanotechnology in
the making of other drugs to cure cancer but we realized that there
could be horrific consequences to that use of nanotechnology. Beyond
those two ideas our group also considered using nanotechnology to
remove the cancer similar to surgery but on the nano scale.
Consequences
Like with any piece of technology there are always
consequences and nanotechnology is no different. One of the
consequences of nanotechnology is that if the nanoparticles are not
disposed of correctly then they can contaminate the surrounding
environment causing severe damage to life. Another consequence is that
the nanoparticles have the potential to cause damage to healthy cells
when they are sent to destroy the tumors in the body. Nanoparticles
also are extremely hard to monitor because they are extremely small.
This means that if they did contaminate the water or anything else it
would be very difficult to verify and remediate. Beyond those two
consequences there is an unknown amount of consequences that can
happen and once the information from this testing is available,
scientists will shift there thinking from weather they we can use
nanotechnology to weather we should.
Conclusion
Cancer is among the worst if not the worst disease in the
world because of the immense suffering it causes to both the people
who have the disease and to the families of the people who have the
disease. We luckily have treatment options for the disease such as
chemo, surgery and radiation. Unfortunately these treatments don’t
always work and can cause a lot of harm to the healthy tissues around
the area of the tumor, but with advancements in nanotechnology we soon
may be able to cure cancer with less damage to the surrounding tissue
and with more success.