Scientists have engineered nanoparticles derived from grapefruit lipids that could be used to deliver anti-cancer and other drugs to tumour cells, says a study.
A team led by researchers Huang-Ge Zhang and Qilong Wang published their findings in Nature Communications Wednesday. "These nanoparticles, which we've named grapefruit-derived nanovectors (GNVs), are derived from an edible plant, and we believe they are less toxic for patients, result in less biohazardous waste for the environment, and are much cheaper to produce at large scale than nanoparticles made from synthetic materials," Zhang said.