Triple-negative breast cancer is rare, aggressive and fast-growing. It’s also challenging to treat.

For the last three years, a team of scientists at Rutgers University-Newark has been researching ways to prevent cancerous cells from metastasizing.

“The cancer stem cells are a real problem today because they are very difficult to trap and control,” said Jean-Pierre Etchegaray, biological sciences professor at Rutgers-Newark. “They have the ability to generate different cell types for tumor growth in different areas from the primary tumor in the breast.”

Etchegaray and chemistry professor Fei Zhang have developed a unique RNA-based nanotechnology. The RNA structure is injected into a human cell, where it programs itself to potentially stop the production of harmful cells.

“We design synthetic information for the cell,” Zhang said. “We deliver it to the cell, and it gives them instructions — like what kind of instruction can be programmed outside.”

Etchegaray and Zhang explain it this way: The cells in our body run on instructions in DNA. RNA is like software — the messenger that tells cells what to do.

“It will let the cell create it. Like, it generates the cure itself,” Zhang said.

This breakthrough in biomedical research was published in Nature Communications for its one-of-a-kind approach to direct cell application, as opposed to external delivery. The professors believe this is a better technique in the fight to stop the spread of cancerous cells.

“We are mostly focused on the therapeutic advantage that could increase the life quality of breast cancer patients,” Etchegaray said.

They say this is just the beginning, and this therapeutic technique could develop into a treatment for a host of other diseases or even a form of anti-aging.