Researchers are constantly on the lookout for new cancer treatments and a team at UCLA might have just found a spray on gel treatment that could keep cancer from coming back in a patient after they undergo surgery.

Surgery is often the first line of treatment for many types of cancer including brain and breast cancer. However, the cancer will often return after the surgery is done to remove it. The new spray developed by researchers is full of nanoparticles that boost the immune system and could keep cancer from coming back. It was successful for half of the lab animals it was tested in.

Not only did the spray keep tumors from returning in the area where the cancer was removed, but it appeared to have boosted the immune system enough that tumors were kept from forming in other areas of the body as well.

Researchers hope to get approval for further testing, although it could take a while before it is approved for use in humans. They hope it can be applied directly to where the tumor was removed by the surgeon that performed the surgery.

The nanoparticles in the spray is made up of calcium carbonate, a substance that is often found in rocks and is the main component of egg shells. Researchers chose this because it will gradually dissolve in a wound site while boosting a type of macrophage that helps get rid of foreign objects in the body.

As researchers continue to study this new breakthrough, we should all keep our fingers crossed in hopes that this is one of the answers we’ve been looking for. Please share this amazing news with your family and friends.