Science briefs

CHAPEL HILL -- A new way to deliver cancer treatment

Even without being loaded with drugs, certain nanoparticles appear to arm a normally benign protein found in the human body with cancer-killer powers, researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill report.

The finding could lead to a new strategy for targeted cancer therapies, although additional research is necessary to make sure the protein only attacks cancer cells.

Transferrin, the fourth most abundant protein in human blood, has for decades been used as a tumor-targeting agent for delivering cancer drugs. The protein's receptor is over-expressed on the surface of many rapidly growing cancers cells, so treatments combined with transferrin molecules are able to seek out and bind to them.

UNC-CH researchers have shown that chemotherapy drugs aren't even necessary when attaching transferrin to nanoparticles. The team, led by chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone, found that the transferrin particles alone can effectively and selectively target and kill B-cell lymphoma cells, found in an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The scientists say the result is an interesting development in the field of nanomedicine, which researchers hope will eventually provide alternatives to chemotherapy and radiation. Those cancer therapies, while considered the most effective currently available, often damage healthy tissues and organs as a side effect.

A Velociraptor cousin found in Romania

Fossil hunters in Romania have unearthed remains of a distant relative of the Velociraptor, the familiar single-claw predator of fierce repute. The creature had unusual stocky limbs and double-clawed feet.

The dinosaur, the size of a gigantic turkey, was a meat-eating creature that lived more than 65 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period, the discoverers reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They named it Balaur bondoc, which means "stocky dragon."

The New York Times

Scientists study oyster adhesive

Oysters and other marine organisms like to attach themselves to one another. In sticking together, oysters avoid major impact from waves and can more easily reproduce. By forming a dense block, the oysters also make it difficult for predators to remove individual oysters.

Now, researchers have found the oysters' adhesive is a unique material. Their findings will appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Both oyster shell and oyster adhesive are made of protein and calcium carbonate, said Dr. Jonathan Wilker, a chemist at Purdue University. However, although shell contains about 1 percent to 2 percent protein, oyster adhesive contains five times this amount.

Still, oysters seem to use far less protein in their adhesive than other marine animals do.

Understanding more about oyster adhesives could help scientists develop better synthetic glues that could have applications in medicine.

"It's the idea of wet-setting adhesives," Wilker said. "The one that comes to mind is a glue that could hold together skin after surgery and eliminate the need for sutures and staples."

The New York Times