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Vietnam has become one of the few countries in the world to successfully apply nano-technology to produce a substance that can facilitate cancer treatment, the government's online news portal cited Ha Phuong Thu from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology as saying.
Scientists at the National Chemistry unit at the Institute spent two years working on a project in which they used the nano-technology to produce the substance called Nano Curcumin extracted from yellow turmeric.
Curcumin is an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation pharmaceutical ingredient in turmeric that can suppress cancerous cells from growing.
However, Doctor Thu said curcumin does not dissolve easily in water, so when a cancer patient consumes curcumin orally, doctors only find a very tiny amount of the substance in the patient’s targeted tissue and blood plasma.
Global medical scientists have tried to increase the amount of curcumin in blood plasma and in the targeted cells.
It is the nano-technology that helps increase the water absorption rate of normal curcumin by 40 times, said Thu, which means the nano-drug can significantly increase the therapeutic properties of cancer treatment drugs.
Now that nano-curcumin is being locally-produced, cancer patients will have better access to the substance at more affordable prices.
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