Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

This Drug Enters Cancer Cells 12.5x Faster With NO Side Effects

Researchers at Northwestern University have completely reimagined a classic chemotherapy drug using nanotechnology, transforming a weak, poorly soluble compound into a precision cancer therapy that is up to 20,000 times more effective at destroying cancer cells. The scientists created the drug entirely from scratch as a spherical nucleic acid, a nanoscale structure that incorporates the medication into DNA strands surrounding tiny spheres, which dramatically improves how the body absorbs and uses it. Traditional chemotherapy drug 5 fluorouracil dissolves so poorly that less than one percent of it works in many biological fluids, causing it to clump in solid form that the body cannot absorb efficiently while also attacking healthy tissue and causing terrible side effects like nausea, fatigue, and even heart failure. When tested in a small animal model of acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive and hard to treat blood cancer, the redesigned version entered leukemia cells 12.5 times more efficiently, destroyed them up to 20,000 times more effectively, and slowed cancer progression by a factor of 59.

The breakthrough happened because the structural redesign changed how the drug interacted with cancer cells, allowing myeloid cells to easily recognize and absorb the spherical nucleic acid form before enzymes broke down the DNA shell to release drug molecules that killed the cancer from within. In mouse experiments, the therapy eliminated leukemia cells to near completion in the blood and spleen, significantly extended survival, and left healthy tissues completely unharmed because it selectively targeted only the cancer cells. Today’s chemotherapeutics kill everything they encounter including healthy cells, but this structural nanomedicine preferentially seeks out myeloid cells and delivers a higher, more focused dose exactly where it’s needed instead of overwhelming the whole body. With seven spherical nucleic acid based therapies already in clinical trials, this approach could pave the way for advanced vaccines and new treatments for cancer, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and autoimmune conditions.

PrevPreviousDiagnosed At 11 And He’s CHANGING Cancer Research
NextActor Calls Kidney Donation To Stranger A NO BRAINERNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

She Beat Cancer And Then Adopted A Hawk

March 25, 2026

When the first Covid lockdown arrived, most people tried baking sourdough or following along with an exercise video. Candida Meyrick did something rather more unusual: she adopted a Harris Hawk fledgling, and the decision changed her life in ways she is still discovering. Candida, who had come through breast cancer

Read More
Happy News

Speed-Dating For Friends Is Here: Speed-Friending

March 25, 2026

America is in the middle of what researchers are calling a friendship recession, and the numbers behind it are striking. In 1990, about 3 percent of Americans said they had no friends at all. Today that figure has grown to somewhere between 12 and 20 percent, a shift that scientists

Read More
Happy News

The 2028 LA Olympics Just Revealed Its Official Look

March 24, 2026

The countdown to Los Angeles 2028 just got a lot more colorful. LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics, has unveiled the official visual identity for the Games — and it’s a breathtaking love letter to Southern California. Dubbed “LA in Full Bloom,” the design concept is inspired

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.