Louis Pasteur University researchers have developed a new method of getting anticancer genes into cells: a novel detergent molecule that interacts with individual DNA molecules to form a nanoparticle 32 nanometers in diameter.

These nanoparticles, which are unusual in that they have no charge on their surface, are stable in blood, yet fall apart when exposed to a negatively-charged molecule found only inside cells. This molecule, phosphatidylserine, causes the nanoparticle to unravel, releasing the entrapped DNA molecule to the inside of the cell.

National Cancer Institute news release