In the latest news on the front lines of the cancer war, scientists are testing "nanotechnology" — the use of vehicles smaller than a grain of salt — to target cancer cells.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology successfully used the novel approach to zap ovarian tumors in tests with mice. Their results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Nanotechnology uses materials that can pass through blood without negatively affecting the host, such as "nanodiamonds" or "nano-DNA" strands. Using these materials to construct vehicles, scientists then load them with cancer cell-killing therapies, in this case RNA. RNA is an acid molecule present in all living cells. It acts as a messenger, sending information on proteins to DNA.

To target the ovarian cancer cells, scientists created a "nanohydrogel," a liquid pellet with the preloaded RNA, which targeted malignant cells by taking out the errant protein that creates a cancerous cell.

In the mice trials, not only did the nanohydrogel stop the ovarian cancer growth, it also broke down resistance to chemotherapy, which allowed a common chemotherapy drug to dramatically eliminate large carcinomas.

Researchers used a fluorescent "tag" to follow the nanoparticles and observe their progress.

"When we gave the chemotherapy alone, the response was moderate; but with the addition of the nanoparticles, the tumor was either significantly reduced or completely gone," chief researcher John McDonald said.

If human tests prove to be consistent with the mice models, the use of nanotechnology could represent an astonishing advancement in the treatment of a wide spectrum of cancers.