Giving Cancer Drugs a Direct Route to Tumors
Currently, chemotherapy drugs must be administered in high doses to ensure that the therapeutic properties will effectively reach cancer cells. Though effective, this brute force process is inefficient and highly disruptive to normal cells.
Now, a new research study released by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health and Sciences Technology hints at a more direct route for attacking cancer tumors. This route involves engineered nano-particles that are specially designed to disrupt the signaling pathway of cancer cells so that a higher concentration of drugs can reach its intended target.
The name of this inhibited signaling pathway is MAPK. The MAPK pathway is responsible for signaling the growth of new cancerous cells. By using a MAPK inhibitor, which was engineered from an FDA-approved polymer, the team was successful in slowing tumor growth as well as predisposing new cancer cells to being killed by chemo drugs.
Additionally, the polymer provides a more targeted approach to cancer treatment. This is because the nano-particles are capable of distinguishing between cancerous and non-cancerous cells. As a result, lower doses of chemotherapy are required and the potential for negative side effects experienced by the patient are significantly reduced.
When used in combination with cisplatin on lab mice that had melanoma, the treatment proved dramatically more effective. For 50 percent of all mice treated with nano-particles, the entire tumor regressed. In mice that were not given the nano-particle, cisplatin alone was not effective in complete tumor reduction.
The use of nano-particles is predicted to be beneficial for the majority of cancer types. The tactic may be most effective on difficult-to-treat cancers such as breast cancer and liver cancer. According to the research team, targeted treatment processes such as this one will be the primary approach within five to ten years.
Resources:
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Pressreleases/PressRelease.aspx?PageID=480
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090421/jsp/nation/story_10852785.jsp
http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/51/30590/delivering-cancer-drugs-directly-tumors.html
