Yonsei University’s nano-drug team poses for a photo on Thursday. From left: medical professors Hur Yong-min and Suh Jin-suck, and chemical engineering professor Haam Seung-joo. / Courtesy of Ministry of Science and Technology

By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

A team of Yonsei University researchers have developed an anticancer drug that not only treats cancer but also diagnoses the disease by highlighting tumor cells in MRI images.

The researchers ― chemical engineering professor Haam Seung-joo and medical professors Suh Jin-suck and Hur Yong-min ― said that the ``multi-purpose nano compound'' has proven to be effective in animal tests, and clinical tests will begin soon. They said that they are in a partnership with ATGen, a biomedical venture firm, to commercialize the drug.

The encapsulated ``smart'' drug is tens to hundreds of nanometers in size, allowing particles to penetrate deep into tissues and bind to specific cancer cells. As the particles contain a magnetic component, they are shown highlighted by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) along with the cells to which they are attached.

The tiny capsules also carry a tumor antibody called Herceptin. In mouse test, cancer cells treated with this nano-drug shrank to one sixth the size of cancer cells left untreated, the Yonsei team said.

``Like a high-precision guided missile, the nano-compound can bind to cancer cells in the human body and slowly release the anticancer drug,'' the team said in a press release on Friday. `` It enables visual monitoring of the condition of cancer cells as well.''

The team has been studying the search-and-destroy technique for years and has filed several patents in the United States and in South Korea. Other scientists, including researchers at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been conducting similar projects.

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr