CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Medical School have developed a possible new treatment for cancer that causes what one scientist calls an "elegant death" for cancer cells.
This new approach combines magnetism research with biological research.
And Dr. Sam Bader of Argonne says it involves certain cancer medication that contains a microdisc.
"They're shaped liked pancakes or Frisbees and they have a very unique magnetic configuration that allows them to be tickled by an external alternating magnetic field."
Dr. Bader says the cancer cell is targeted by the tickled microdisc.
"There's very specific biochemical signals that are being sent to the DNA as to how to destruct itself. It's an elegant death."
"Within a 10-minute time period, these cells are programmed to destruct."
And Dr. Bader says it's a new way to kill cancer cells.
"So it's not just kind of frying them to death. It's more sophisticated than that. So we feel that this is opening up a new area."
Dr. Bader says test tube trials worked. Now, testing in mice.
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