In the news and comment section of Nature published on the 19 Aug 2012, Daniel Cressey describes virus-like-nano-particle built target tumors . The team headed by Chen designed a self-assembling nanoparticle to target tumor cells like a virus. The team observed that mimicking a virus is a useful way to deliver drugs to cancerous cells. The sensational finding was reported recently by Yuhong Chen at the American Chemical Society’s annual fall meeting in Philadelphia. According to this report these nano-particles fuse with cells “like real viruses”. Chen and his associates demonstrated that these nanoparticles can fuse with cells via receptors. By incorporating compounds into the nanoparticles that normally bind prostate tumor cells, their virus-mimic selectively targets these cells. The team’s particles assemble with remarkable precision. Chen and his associates are now working on getting their nanoparticles into an animal model.
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/08/virus-like-nanoparticle-built-to-target-tumours.html