bone cancer
Precision Oncology: Nanoparticles Target Bone Cancers in Dogs
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Credit: L. Brian Stauffer
Many people share their homes with their pet dogs. Spending years under the same roof with the same environmental exposures, people and dogs have something else in common that sometimes gets overlooked. They can share some of the same diseases, such as diabetes and cancer. By studying these diseases in dogs, researchers can learn not only to improve care for people but for their canine friends as well.
As a case in point, an NIH-funded team of researchers recently tested a new method of delivering chemotherapy drugs for osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that affects dogs and people, typically teenagers and older adults. Their studies in dogs undergoing treatment for osteosarcoma suggest that specially engineered, bone-seeking nanoparticles might safely deliver anti-cancer drugs precisely to the places where they are most needed. These early findings come as encouraging news for the targeted treatment of inoperable bone cancers and other malignancies that spread to bone.
Science Becomes Art
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Credit: Dylan T. Burnette, NICHD, NIH
This stunning picture of a human bone cancer cell won artistic accolades: 3rd place in the Nikon Small World Competition. DNA, the blueprint of life, is actually blue in this photo. The yellow squiggles are little powerhouses called mitochondria that generate ATP ‘fuel’ for the cell. The purple wisps are filaments of actin, which help the cell move, keep its shape, and traffic chemicals from one part of the cell to another.
Happy New Year everyone.
