A treatment has been discovered that could be up to 20,000 times better against cancer.
What is nanomedicine?
Nanomedicine is a field of science that uses tiny structures — a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair — to create more efficient treatments. These structures, called nanoparticles, can be programmed to deliver drugs directly to diseased cells, preventing the medicine from affecting healthy parts of the body. It’s like having “microscopic drones” with a mission: to locate and destroy cancer without damaging the rest of the organism.
The study: DNA as smart packaging
In the Northwestern study, the team led by Professor Chad A. Mirkin developed an innovative type of nanomedicine called SNAs (spherical nucleic acids). These structures are made up of small DNA strands arranged in a spherical shape, capable of transporting and releasing drugs in a controlled way inside diseased cells.
The drug tested was 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), one of the oldest and most widely used chemotherapy agents for leukemia and other types of cancer. Despite its effectiveness, 5-Fu has serious limitations: it is quickly degraded in the body and causes severe side effects, such as nausea, weakness, and hair loss.
To solve this, scientists “wrapped” 5-Fu inside the DNA spheres. This new form of the drug — called 5-Fu SNA — behaved completely differently: it was absorbed by cancer cells up to 12 times more efficiently and killed leukemia cells up to 20,000 times more effectively than the traditional version.
Promising results
The effect on mice with leukemia was astonishing. After treatment with the nanomedicine, tumors virtually stopped growing, signs of the disease disappeared from the blood and spleen, and the animals lived significantly longer.
Beyond its effectiveness, another remarkable aspect was its safety: scientists found no damage to healthy organs — something extremely rare in cancer therapies. This indicates that the drug can precisely distinguish malignant cells from normal ones, solving one of the greatest challenges in modern oncology.
Why is this so important?
Current cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, have devastating effects on the body because they attack any rapidly dividing cell — which includes not only cancer cells but also those in the hair, skin, and digestive tract. That’s why patients suffer so much from side effects.
With nanomedicine, the approach changes completely. Instead of “bombarding” the entire body, the drug is delivered with almost surgical precision. It marks the beginning of an era in which medicines can be designed for each type of cancer — and perhaps even personalized according to each patient’s DNA.
The future of nanomedicine
The Northwestern team is already studying the application of this technology to other types of cancer, such as breast, lung, and pancreatic cancers, and even infectious diseases. The hope is that, in the future, nanomedicines will replace part of traditional chemotherapy and offer faster, painless, and more effective treatments.
Although the study was conducted only in animals, the results paved the way for human clinical trials. If the same effects are observed in people, this technology could completely revolutionize cancer treatment and transform the way we understand medicine.
A new era of hope
The discovery marks a turning point in the history of oncology. For the first time, a traditional drug has been reconfigured to act with nanometric precision — hitting only the target while sparing the rest of the body.
Sources:
- Northwestern Now – “New nanomedicine wipes out leukemia in animal study” (October 2025)
- Northwestern University – International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN)
- Science Translational Medicine – scientific publication of the original study
