The U.S. National Cancer Institute announced a new five-year plan on Monday to develop the use of tiny tools to fight cancer, saying nanotechnology just might provide the edge needed to defeat the disease. Nanotechnology -- the design and use of devices the size of molecules -- offers new ways to detect, diagnose and to treat cancer at its earliest stages and with minimal side effects, experts told reporters. "If we can do that then we can eliminate this disease," said Richard Smalley, a professor of nanotechnology at Rice University in Houston. The $144.5 million plan will include the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, an initiative to team up researchers, physicians, companies and not-for-profit groups to develop nanotechnology products for use in diagnosing and treating cancer. Medicine already employs molecular size devices in the shape of natural and artificially engineered proteins such as antibodies. "What's new is we can build new nano-objects that never existed before," Smalley said. These can be coated with homing devices such as antibodies, artificial or natural, that will find cancerous cells. They could also carry drugs to kill the cells or imaging agents to help detect cancer, said Dr. Mauro Ferrari, a special adviser to the NCI and a professor of biomedical engineering at Ohio State University. --more 2335 Local Time 2035 GMT
