Nano particles to treat cancer
A team of researchers at the University of Michigan has succeeded in creating the equivalent of nanotechnological Trojan horse to carry a very powerful chemotherapy treatment within a tumor cells, thereby increasing the drug’s ability to kill breast cancer and reducing side effects toxic.
According to a press release circulated yesterday by the University, previous studies in cell cultures have shown that the use of nanoparticles to transport anti-cancer treatments directly to the objective, namely the tumor cells, could increase the therapeutic response. Now scientists from Michigan have shown that this treatment based on nanotechnology, is effective in live animals.
According to the study director, Professor James Baker, “This is the first study that has shown as a medicine transported by a nanoparticle can leave the bloodstream, reaching the breast cancer cells and have a biological impact on the tumor of the animal. ”
Baker stresses the optimism of his team before this achievement because in his opinion shows that nanotechnology can dramatically improve current therapies against cancer. “Send treatments directly to breast cancer cells reduces the amount reaching normal cells, increases the impact of anti-carcinogenic medicine and reduces their toxicity. By improving the therapeutic index of cancer drugs, our goal is to convert cancer into a chronic but manageable.
The survey results are published in the number of June 15, 2005 in the journal Cancer Research.
The vehicle for carrying the drug used by scientists from Michigan is a polymer molecule called a dendrimer whose diameter measured less than five nanometers. These Dendrimers are small enough to pass through a tiny openings in cell membranes.
— This image of a dendrimer provided by the University of Michigan shows its structure as a tree with many branches on which scientists can join a variety of molecules, including drugs.
In experiments developed by the team of Prof.. Baker, researchers adhered methotrexate, a potent anti-cancer drug, to branches of the dendrimer. In other areas, adhered fluorescent imaging agents and a secret ingredient, folic acid.
Folic acid is an important vitamin required for the healthy functioning of all cells. But it appears that cancer cells need more folic acid than normal. By leveraging its appetite for this substance, scientists succeed in preventing cancer cells develop resistance to drugs chyme therapeutic.
In the tests conducted in the laboratory, this new therapy nanoparticles in mice that received injections of human cancer cells was 10 times more effective and less toxic than the traditional administration of treatment.
