Ending Cancer With Diamonds ! New Step Towards Better World

It is hard to believe from the title of this article, that diamonds, one of the costliest gems in the world, are used for treatment. But yes, research has proven that diamond nanoparticles find application in modern biomedical science and technologies. With its most cutting edge properties, diamonds have proved to be a lot more than just a gem. And has potentially showed that ending cancer with diamonds, which seems fictional (yet genius), has now been made possible. Thanks to nanotechnology and macro brains of scientists. Let’s begin with little background of history.

This all began in the 1960s in the USSR where they produced nanodiamonds. However, they remained unaware of their properties until 1988. This is when they discovered its use in wear-resistant coatings and anti-wear additives for motor oil.

But the actual interest and production in nanodiamonds (ND) began, in the late 1990s, when they found its biomedical application.

For most of the current challenges faced in the field of medical therapeutics and biomedical applications, many platforms have been discovered. Among which, nanodiamonds have turned out to be promising carriers due to their excellent biocompatibility. They serve as a platform to be engaged with polymer base microfilm devices, which enables the slow release of the drug at the cancer site. Thus reserving a great amount of the drug and unique surface-mediated binding of a wide variety of bioactive molecules.

Nanodiamonds range from 1 to 100 nm. They are characterized by chemical stability, octahedral symmetry, rigid structure, and large surface area. There are mainly two types of nanodiamonds used in medical applications: – detonation nanodiamonds and fluorescent nanodiamonds. But, the nanodiamonds produced by detonation are the most interesting ones as these nanodiamonds can be easily modified and linked with different biomolecules through hydrophobic interactions and covalent bonds.

You may be wondering, why to use diamonds despite their extortionate price? My response to this reasonable claim is, that the entire production process of nanodiamonds is economically sound. As they are synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), detonation, or high temperature & high-pressure methods. They are currently being widely used in cellular, preclinical, and clinical studies, especially in the field of cancer.

Early Detection Of Cancer – First step towards ending cancer with Diamonds

Recent research has shown that diamonds can help fight cancer by lighting up areas of cancer in MRI scans, especially in the case of brain and pancreatic cancers. Nanodiamonds penetrate through the cell wall without damaging them. The magnetic property of diamonds aligns the atoms in a way that generates a signal which is easily detected in the MRI scans. The hyperpolarized diamonds help in tracking the movement of molecules in the body.

Destruction To Chemo-Resistance Cancer Stem Cells

If you have never heard about the “devil” chemo-resistance; it is the ability of many cancer cells to escape from chemotherapy treatment. This is one of the primary reasons why cancer treatment fails. The major cancer cell which shows this behavior is a cancer stem cell, which initiates the formation of tumors in the body. This common resistance behavior of cancer cells has led to the evolution of various drugs and treatment methods.

A recent development in the field is Epirubicin, a chemotherapy drug for nanodiamonds. Attaching epirubicin to nanodiamonds not only effectively destroyed the chemo-resistant cancer stem cells but also prevented secondary tumor formation.

The non-reactive and non-toxic nature of nanodiamonds has proven extremely useful to patients who cannot tolerate the toxic effects of standard chemotherapy drugs. The versatility of nanodiamonds has opened up the realm of possibilities of using it in active targeting of the components. This potentially includes antibodies or peptides against tumor cell proteins for targeted drug release.

Role Of Diamonds In Ending Specific Cancers

Many approaches and researches have been in progress to find a way in curing and ending cancer with diamonds. Amongst them, major breakthroughs were noted in curing some of the most deadly cancers of all time.

Nanodiamonds For Brain Tumors

The development of the innovative idea of a drug delivery system using nanodiamonds has great results in killing the cancer cells with fewer side effects. Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal type of brain tumor can be treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy; but the average life a person with glioblastoma is found to be just one and a half years.

This tumor is difficult to treat because the drugs injected are often unable to penetrate the system. That is; protecting blood vessels that surround the brain, commonly known as the ‘blood-brain barrier’. Even if some of the drugs get through the barrier, the effect of the drugs decreases, making them ineffective against the tumor cell.

After conducting several studies to overcome the barrier, researchers used the drug doxorubicin, a common and effective chemotherapy agent with nanodiamonds, and the substance created was known as ND-DOX.

It is been observed that the tumor cell ejects most of the anticancer drugs before the drugs come into action, but the drug ND-DOX levels in the tumor remain for a longer duration than standard doxorubicin without affecting the surrounding tissues. Further, it also found that ND-DOX increases apoptosis (programmed cancer cell death) and decreases the cell viability in the brain cells. The results of using ND-DOX exhibited reduced toxic effects and increased tumor-killing efficiency. The survival time of the patients also increased as compared to those given only doxorubicin.

Further research is in the process of using various other drugs with nanodiamonds and also improving the treatment and reducing the side effects, helping in ending cancer more effectively.

Nanodiamonds for breast cancer

The use of nanodiamonds for breast cancer in humans is still in its infancy stage. Scientists have experimented with the use of ND-DOX on mice with liver cancer and discovered that the level of doxorubicin is ten times higher with the increased survival rate in mice treated with the ND-DOX, as compared to mice given doxorubicin alone. After experimenting with liver cancer, the nanodiamonds were further tested for breast cancer. The results of the test were the same as above; showing fewer toxic effects and higher efficiency in destroying the tumor cells.

The use of nanodiamonds for breast cancer in humans needs synthetic polymers that have reproducible properties and composition and can be tuned, which is still in the development stage. Nanodiamonds have been successful in treating liver cancer and mammary carcinoma models showing positive results in all. Research is still being conducted to use nanodiamonds in treating various lethal cancers and ending cancer with diamonds.

“It is very interesting to know the properties of diamonds used to save the lives of many people by ending cancer. Yet there is a lot more to be discovered as there are many unclosed facts and discoveries to be made in this field.”

Find out more about capability of diamonds and their amazing properties like this, here.