American scientists have developed a new method to fight cancer tumors. A group of researchers from the Georgia Tech and Emory University has developed a special type of thin nanofibers that attract cancer cells. Animal studies have shown that brain cancerous tumors decrease after cancer cells begin to move on these fibers.

The subject of the study was glioblastoma – a type of brain cancer that is extremely difficult to treat and tend to spread in the brain.

Cancer cells travel through nerve fibers and blood vessels as they propagate into the brain. Nanofibres described in the publication in the journal Nature Materials, mimic such pathways of cancer cells.

"The cancer cells normally latch onto these natural structures and ride them like a monorail to other parts of the brain," said one of the study authors Ravi Bellamkonda. ‘'By providing an attractive alternative fiber, we can efficiently move the tumors along a different path to a destination that we choose."

Animal studies indicate that cancer cells can be derived from the brain, and specifically directed to an implanted capsule of toxic substances. In animals which were administered nanofibers, the tumour size was reduced by 93% compared with the group of rats, in which the cancer developed freely.

However, studies are still at a very early stage, and much time is needed until the researchers start human trials.