Linda stands astride the northern and southern hemispheres (Ecuador)
A new word
for me, but easy to decipher: using radiation as a drug. We have long known that radiation can be used
to kill cancer cells. The problem, a
serious one, always has been to guide the lethal alpha particles and their kin
to the unwanted cancer cells without destroying useful things (as, brain,
heart, liver, etc.) in the process. If I
read this article correctly, it appears possible to convert ordinary lead (Pb)
into a radioactive isotope (Pb 214) with a half-life of 25 minutes. It also appears to be possible to attach
these little activated suckers to a molecule called trastuzumab that somehow
has the important property of being able to search out and glom onto cancer
cells. Then the Pb214 kills the cell
with a burst of sub-atomic ejecta. How
all this works is well outside my pay grade, obviously. Read the article and you will be enlightened.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/750426
No comments:
Post a Comment