Kanzius sees success
Millcreek inventor's treatment kills cancer cells in rabbits
BY STEVEN M. SWEENEY
steven.sweeney@timesnews.com [more details]
Published: October 31. 2007 6:00AM
John Kanzius (Erie Times-News)
Hard evidence that researchers using John Kanzius' radio-wave generator are successfully killing cancer cells has been published by the American Cancer Society.
An article describing the treatment using Kanzius' generator was first published late Tuesday in the online version of the Cancer Society's journal, Cancer.
The evidence, published as a collaborative article from 11 researchers, indicates that Kanzius' radio-wave treatment completely killed liver tumor cells in test rabbits with no side effects.
"We must be careful with terminology; in liver tumor models, we were successful," said Dr. Steven A. Curley, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "It means we're getting pushed farther ahead as rapidly as possible."
Curley said tumors in rabbits that were treated with only radio waves remained alive, while those injected with only nanoparticles also had no change in condition. Treatment using both radio waves and nanoparticles was successful.
Nanoparticles are tiny molecules that can be viewed only using sophisticated electron microscopes. The particles used in the radio-wave research are single-walled carbon nanotubes. Essentially, they are carbon molecules shaped like paper-towel cylinders that can be struck by Kanzius' radio waves and heated to the point that the cancer cells they are inside are destroyed from within.
Curley said that within the next 12 to 18 months, scientists will work on ways to identify and attach chemicals to the nanotubes to allow them to target and penetrate only cancer cells.
"Chemically, it's straightforward. There are some good places to start, and we can expand from there," he said. "It's all about finding the right particles to use."
Curley said tumors to be used in targeting are from colon, pancreas, liver, breast and skin cancers.
Kanzius, the Millcreek Township inventor of the radio-wave generator, said he's already responded to media telephone calls from Los Angeles, New York and around the world about the journal article, even though it had been online for less than five hours late Tuesday night.
The article will appear in print in the journal's December issue.
"I'm sort of speechless this has all worked out the way I visualized it," Kanzius said. "I didn't know what to expect -- if this was just a pipe-dream or whether it was something the scientists could make happen."
Kanzius said demand for his radio-wave generator should increase dramatically and begin the economic windfall he said he's dreamed would come Erie's way.
"I think in the near term, the demand will be 3,000 to 5,000 units. In the long term, it will be 50,000 to 100,000," he said.
The four units already in service with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are working well and in great shape, Kanzius said. He attributed the machines' endurance to craftsmanship by Millcreek-based Industrial Sales and Manufacturing Inc.
With Kanzius as the generator's patent holder, he will be the one to decide which companies can assist in producing the generators and which universities and research institutions will be allowed to purchase them.
The researchers submitted the article on Aug. 20 and the journal's publishers accepted it on Sept. 19.
This stage of the research was funded by the American Association of Cancer Research Littlefield Grant, NASA's Alliance for NanoHealth, the National Science Foundation, the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology and the Fulbright Foundation.
Curley conservatively estimated that human trials could begin in three to four years.
STEVEN SWEENEY can be reached at 870-1675 or by e-mail.
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071031/NEWS02/710310441
