Tuesday, April 15, 2008


Kanzius RF Nano-Particle Cancer Treatment

Being bombarded with microwaves isn't all bad, may even be a life-saver. After my last post, I went looking for a good old-fashioned 'technology will save us all' story and hit the jackpot. From Wired magazine:
A promising new cancer treatment that may one day replace radiation and chemotherapy is edging closer to human trials. Kanzius RF therapy attaches microscopic nanoparticles to cancer cells and then "cooks" tumors inside the body with harmless radio waves. Based on technology developed by Pennsylvania inventor John Kanzius, a retired radio and TV engineer, the treatment has proven 100 percent effective at killing cancer cells while leaving neighboring healthy cells unharmed. It is currently being tested at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“I don’t want to give people false hope,” said Dr. Steve Curley, the professor leading the tests, “but this has the potential to treat a wide variety of cancers.” Modern cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy have proven remarkably effective at treating many cancers, especially in combination, but are plagued with toxic side effects. These treatments kill healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.
Gold nanoparticles are used to coat the target cells and radio waves bounce around inside. Each cell becomes a receiver for a high-energy RF field, with resulting hyperthermia excited in the bad cells. Makes sense.

John Kanzius is a retired radio engineer with a tech degree who underwent chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkins Lymphona in 2003-2004. At that time, he saw children with terminal cancers and resolved to help. By 2005, he had built a contraption in his home, collaborating with Richard Smalley, the Nobel-winning nanotechnology pioneer of 'buckyball' fame; by 2006, he had convinced the University of Pittsburgh Medical center to perform trials on laboratory rabbits. As of November 1st, 2007, the cure rate for the rabbits was 100%.
Sadly, Smalley, who had fought a long battle with cancer, died in Houston at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in late 2005.

Read more here...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So is the treatment to shoot C-60 fullerene molocules at the cancer cells, or are bucky balls involved?

Anonymous said...

I saw this on 60 Minutes and was absolutely amazed. This IS it!

MarcLord said...

SLL--

both are named for Buckminster Fuller, beyond that it's not clear how they "paint" the cancer cells with the nano-gold or nano-carbon. So I guess they may shoot them, yes.

Z&M--

Wow, I didn't see that. The story can be dramatized--"coming to a screen near you! The Cure, starring Richard Gere and Meryl Streep."