Who knew that radioactive particles packed in DNA-sized carbon tubes that are injected into the body could fight cancer?

Though it sounds dangerous, it's actually a new way of targeting tiny tumours and single leukemia cells by delivering a potent dose of radiation, a new study finds.

The research is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Small.

In the study, University of Washington researchers developed and tested a process of loading astatine atoms inside short sections of carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes of pure carbon.

Astatine is the rarest element occurring on Earth and emits alpha particles when it goes through radioactive decay.

Alpha particles are the predominant particles emitted as radiation and "4,000 times more massive than the electrons emitted by beta decay — the type of radiation most commonly used to treat cancer," according to the study.

"There are no FDA-approved cancer therapies that employ alpha-particle radiation," said lead researcher Lon Wilson, professor of chemistry at the University of Washington, in a release. "Cancer cells can be destroyed with just one direct hit from an alpha particle on a cell nucleus."

He says the difference in the two cancer approaches is enormous.

"It's something like the difference between a cannon shell and a BB," Wilson said. "The extra mass increases the amount of damage alpha particles can inflict on cancer cells."

Unlike beta particles, which travel very quickly and can easily penetrate tumour cells, alpha particles move more slowly, making them ideal for treating single cancer cells, researchers say.

"The difficulty in developing ways to use them to treat cancer has come in finding ways to deliver them quickly and directly to the cancer site," said Wilson.

As well, the 7.5 hour half-life of astatine (its rate of decay) will mean a cancer therapy involving the element will have to be delivered quickly, before the particles lose their potency.