Scientists have merged tiny gold and iron oxide particles, then added antibodies to steer them through the bloodstream towards colorectal cancer cells.
The gold-plated alloys then kill the targeted cancer cells with absorbed infrared heat.
As cancer cells only need to be heated up a few degrees to die, gold nanoparticles (which allows low energy heat to be used efficiently) can target them better without causing heat damage to healthy tissues.
This results in a threefold increase in killing cancer cells and a substantial tumor reduction within 30 days.
Read more at Cornell University