Sometimes good things come in small packages. Researchers say they’ve developed a nanoparticle that can deliver cancer-fighting drugs to a tumor’s blood vessels with laser-like precision, and that studies in mice show that this system could stop tumors from metastasizing, or spreading through the body.
Researchers say that packaging a toxic chemotherapy drug in nanoparticles for specific delivery to cancer cells, rather than a larger, wide-acting dose, could make for safer and more potent cancer treatments. “There are many drugs that companies have made that have fallen by the wayside or been shelved due to toxicity,” says [study author] David Cheresh [New Scientist].
For the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [subscription required], researchers examined mice with aggressive forms of pancreatic and kidney cancers. They used a nanoparticle that zeroed in on a tumor’s blood vessels and delivered a payload of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, which can have serious side effects when given in traditional doses and delivered through the blood stream. Using the nanoparticles, researchers found that a much smaller dose of the drug was effective, and it wasn’t accompanied by “the collateral damage of weight loss or other outward signs of toxicity in the patient,” said Prof Cheresh [Telegraph].
Researchers pointed out that the nanotech system didn’t have a dramatic effect on the primary tumors, but that it did drastically shrink new metastatic tumors forming in the mice’s spleens, livers and lungs; those shrunk 91 percent on average. Cheresh said that newly forming tumors, still too small to be detected, depend on a fresh supply of blood. With doxorubicin rendering them unable to form blood vessels, the tumors didn’t grow [Wired News].
The mechanism’s impact on metastatic tumors is of great interest to doctors, as these secondary tumors are harder to treat and are often the ultimate cause of a patient’s death. A biotech company called Kereos hopes to commercialize similar nano-drugs, and plans to start clinical trials in humans within a few years. For insight into another nanotech approach to fighting cancer, check out this article from DISCOVER: “Killing Cancer With Red Hot Nanotubes.”
Image: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
July 8th, 2008 at 10:28 am
There is also another nano-structured product that is in development for pancreatic cancer called BrachySil. This is nano-structured silicon, doped with P32 that is injected directly into the pancreas. On July 7 it was announced that a Phase IIb clinical trial in humans started in the UK at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London and University Hospital in Birmingham. In the Phase IIa trials completed last year (and the data presented at the ASCO-GI meeting in January) BrachySil in combination with standard chemotherapy (gemcitabine) was well tolerated with no clinical significant adverse events related to the device. Data showed disease control in 82% of patients and an overall median survival of 309 days.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
[...] Alert for: cancer Nanoparticle ?Smart Bomb? Could Stop Cancer?s Spread By Eliza Strickland Researchers say they?ve developed a nanoparticle that can deliver [...]
July 10th, 2008 at 12:33 am
[...] Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
July 11th, 2008 at 5:35 am
[...] coverage of this research in Discover magazine elicited a comment from someone associated with the drug delivery comapny [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
[...] Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
August 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] Nanoparticle Smart Bomb Could Stop <b>Cancer</b>s Spread Researchers say theyve developed a nanoparticle that can deliver <b>cancer</b>-fighting drugs to a tumors blood vessels with laser-like precision, and that studies in mice show that this system could stop tumors from metastasizing, <b>…</b> [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 6:50 am
[...] Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
[...] Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
February 5th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
November 4th, 2009 at 10:39 am
[...] Related Content: DISCOVER: The Era of Nanoparticle Drugs Begins With Erection Cream 80beats: Nanoparticles + Stem Cells = Faster Healing Wounds 80beats: Did Chinese Factory Workers Die From Inhaling Nanoparticles? 80beats: Nanoscale Origami: A Box—With Lock & Key—Made Entirely of DNA 80beats: Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
November 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
[...] Related Content: DISCOVER: The Era of Nanoparticle Drugs Begins With Erection Cream 80beats: Nanoparticles + Stem Cells = Faster Healing Wounds 80beats: Did Chinese Factory Workers Die From Inhaling Nanoparticles? 80beats: Nanoscale Origami: A Box—With Lock & Key—Made Entirely of DNA 80beats: Nanoparticle “Smart Bomb” Could Stop Cancer’s Spread [...]
April 6th, 2011 at 11:20 am
[...] are trying to use nanoparticles to fight cancer, move spaceships faster, and solve erection [...]