2008 Woodie Awards
Nanoparticles: the next big thing in cancer therapy?
Issue date: 10/9/08
Most methods for treating cancer are so debilitating and risky that thousands of people every year choose to forgo treatment altogether. Others suffer through an array of terrible side effects in hope of being cured.
It comes as no surprise that the next step in cancer treatment is a more focused approach. Many scientists are developing methods for targeted cancer therapies: treatments that interfere with specific molecules involved in causing cancer, or carcinogenesis, and tumor growth.
Many of these approaches work by blocking cell-signaling pathways in cancer cells so that they are unable to divide uncontrollably.
Hopkins researchers have developed coated nanoparticles as a form of targeted prostate cancer therapy. They published their findings over the summer in Cancer Biology & Therapy and are now working to patent their discovery.
"Nanoparticle synthesis has already been well-documented in the literature. Our contribution was to define a one-pot synthesis step, introduce a unique, novel ligand on the nanoparticle surface and establish that these nanoparticles target prostate cancer cells in-vitro," Sachin Chandran, who worked on the study, said.
Scientists have found that polymeric nanoparticles can target tumors via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. The EPR effect describes a property whereby molecules of certain sizes and types tend to accumulate in tumor tissue more than in normal tissues.
By taking advantage of the EPR effect, scientists can deliver large amounts of toxin directly to a cancerous cell.
Hopkins engineers used a combined approach for a new method for coating nanoparticle surfaces with a chemical called PSMA. PSMA is a small antigen that is abundantly expressed on the surfaces of malignant prostate epithelial cells, as well as on the surfaces of the blood vessels that feed the tumors, but not in normal cells.
"In our approach, we wanted to choose a targeting ligand that could withstand the chemically harsh solvents that are used for nanoparticle synthesis. Our lab has expertise in the area of prostate cancer therapy and combined with Dr. Martin Pomper's lab and their know-how of PSMA targeting ligands, we arrived at this approach to design our nanoparticles," Chandran said.
The strategy involved taking advantage of the affinity of the nanoparticle for binding to PSMA and its tendency for extended periods of retention in the tumor. This was a result of leakage via EPR into the microscopic spaces within the cancerous tissues.
"This means that there is yet another approach for targeting prostate cancer. At this discovery stage, these are only ideas, but I believe that this idea holds potential," Chandran said. "It is conceivable that such an approach might be useful against other cancers too."
The team conducted studies in cell culture to prove that the nanoparticles work. Studies in live animals with cancer are planned to help understand the therapy's usefulness.
The team's methodology has been provisionally patented through the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer office.
It comes as no surprise that the next step in cancer treatment is a more focused approach. Many scientists are developing methods for targeted cancer therapies: treatments that interfere with specific molecules involved in causing cancer, or carcinogenesis, and tumor growth.
Many of these approaches work by blocking cell-signaling pathways in cancer cells so that they are unable to divide uncontrollably.
Hopkins researchers have developed coated nanoparticles as a form of targeted prostate cancer therapy. They published their findings over the summer in Cancer Biology & Therapy and are now working to patent their discovery.
"Nanoparticle synthesis has already been well-documented in the literature. Our contribution was to define a one-pot synthesis step, introduce a unique, novel ligand on the nanoparticle surface and establish that these nanoparticles target prostate cancer cells in-vitro," Sachin Chandran, who worked on the study, said.
Scientists have found that polymeric nanoparticles can target tumors via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. The EPR effect describes a property whereby molecules of certain sizes and types tend to accumulate in tumor tissue more than in normal tissues.
By taking advantage of the EPR effect, scientists can deliver large amounts of toxin directly to a cancerous cell.
Hopkins engineers used a combined approach for a new method for coating nanoparticle surfaces with a chemical called PSMA. PSMA is a small antigen that is abundantly expressed on the surfaces of malignant prostate epithelial cells, as well as on the surfaces of the blood vessels that feed the tumors, but not in normal cells.
"In our approach, we wanted to choose a targeting ligand that could withstand the chemically harsh solvents that are used for nanoparticle synthesis. Our lab has expertise in the area of prostate cancer therapy and combined with Dr. Martin Pomper's lab and their know-how of PSMA targeting ligands, we arrived at this approach to design our nanoparticles," Chandran said.
The strategy involved taking advantage of the affinity of the nanoparticle for binding to PSMA and its tendency for extended periods of retention in the tumor. This was a result of leakage via EPR into the microscopic spaces within the cancerous tissues.
"This means that there is yet another approach for targeting prostate cancer. At this discovery stage, these are only ideas, but I believe that this idea holds potential," Chandran said. "It is conceivable that such an approach might be useful against other cancers too."
The team conducted studies in cell culture to prove that the nanoparticles work. Studies in live animals with cancer are planned to help understand the therapy's usefulness.
The team's methodology has been provisionally patented through the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer office.
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Angie Nixon
posted 10/12/08 @ 4:05 PM EST
Currently my mother (75 yrs old)has colon cancer and has gone through her 3rd of twelve treatments of chemo therapy. It has brought her down so low that we have asked the doctor to wait before going through the next treatment. (Continued…)
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