Washington, Aug 5 - By injecting nanotubes into tumours and zapping them with a quick, 30-second laser burst, scientists have killed kidney tumours in nearly 80 percent of mice. Their success suggests a potential future cancer treatment for humans.

The result is a collaborative effort between Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM), Rice University and Virginia Tech.

'When dealing with cancer, survival is the endpoint you are searching for,' said Suzy Torti, lead study investigator and professor of biochemistry at Wake Forest.

'It's great if you can get the tumour to shrink, but the gold standard is to make the tumour shrink or disappear and not come back. It appears that we've found a way to do that,' said Torti.

Nanotubes are long, thin, sub-microscopic tubes made of carbon. For the study, researchers used multi-walled nanotubes (MWCNTs), which contain several nanotubes nestled within each other.

The tubes, when non-invasively exposed to laser-generated near-infrared radiation, respond by vibrating, creating heat. If enough heat is conducted, tumour cells near the tubes begin to shrink and die.

Using a mouse model, researchers injected kidney tumours with different quantities of MWCNTs and exposed the area to a three-watt laser for 30 seconds.