Indian Researchers Create World's 1st Bandage That Can Cure Skin Cancer

Indian Institute of Science researchers have developed a non-invasive method of curing skin cancer, with the help of a special bandage, which included magnetic nanofibers.

It applies the alternative treatment of magnetic hyperthermia, where the magnetic nanoparticles are used to heat the tumours with the help of external alternating current magnetic fields.

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Usually, this method can be difficult to work with as if uniform heating isn¡¯t achieved, it can accumulate in the human body and induce toxicity. However, to circumvent this, researchers from the Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering as well as the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics at IISc has developed a bandage with a unique blend of nanoparticles that are fabricated using a novel method called electrospinning.

The nanoparticles are made of an iron oxide -- Fe304 as well as a polymer dubbed polycaprolactone (PCL) which is stuck on surgical tape. The high-frequency oscillating magnetic field generates the heat which helps in curing the tumour.

For testing the efficacy of this bandage, the researchers conducted two experiments -- one was in vitro on human cancer cell lines while the other was in vivo on mice with an artificially induced skin cancer.

Kaushik Suneet, a former project associate at BSSE and the first author of the study explains, "The protocol used to prepare the PCL-Fe3O4 fibrous mat-based bandage took a little more than two months to optimise; however, the in vitro and in vivo tests that involved the testing of the magnetic thermal therapy took quite some time to optimise."

IISC Bangalore

In both methods, it was able to cure skin cancer effectively. Also, in vivo testing showed that healthy tissue was intact without suffering any damage, burns or inflammation.

Shilpee Jain, a DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow at BSSE when the study was conducted, and a senior author of the paper explains, "The elevated temperature at the treatment site enables heat to penetrate the tumour cells, rupturing the compact random vasculatures (a network of blood vessels) of the tumours. (In contrast), the normal healthy cells, owing to their organised open vasculatures, dissipate the heat to maintain normal temperatures, and so remain unharmed."

She added, "Further studies are required to test the efficacy of this novel treatment method on a larger scale in rabbits, dogs and monkeys before employing it for pre-clinical and clinical applications."