The potential for the concentrations of drugs, used in cancer treatments, to be significantly lower could be the result of a new, man made, polymer being created by Rania Harfouche and his team.
Electronically published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the data shows that the nanoparticles after being filled with cisplatin, a drug used against cancer, cause the death of bad cells. And tumor growth was slowed down in laboratory mice.
Shiladitya Sengupta, who was also involved in the American research, believes that the potential to hit predetermined tumors is considerable. Furthermore cancers such as those found in the liver, pancreas and breasts, that are always very difficult to treat, will benefit from these nanoparticles.
At the moment the only way to treat most cancers is an aggressive course of chemotherapy, where every toxic drug are taken by the patient resulting in many side effects and a lot of distress.[Cancer chemotherapy]
These new safer nanoparticles are being developed at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology and the Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
They are designed to hinder the microtule-associated protein/microtubule affinity regulating kinases (MARK) signaling pathway. The latter is implicated in nearly all tumors found in humans. Once slowed down this MARK signaling will allow for a greater amount of anti cancer medicine to the requisite areas of the body.
The potential to treat cancer sufferers with drugs more likely to be successful but with lesser side effects this whole research program is seen as a real breakthrough.
