by Angela Herring
Professor Vladimir Torchilin’s groundbreaking work in nanomedicine recently earned him the 2013 Blaise Pascal Medal for Biomedical Science from the European Academy of Science. Credit: Brooks Canaday.
(Medical Xpress)—Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones. This is the philosophy that Northeastern professor Vladimir Torchilin and his team took in new research carried out in collaboration with physics professor Dmitri Lapotko from Rice University and presented in a paper published Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.
"It's an absolutely new concept for treating cancer," said Torchilin, a Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of the School of Pharmacy's Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. "There are several factors combined in a very simple way, which results in a synergistic effect against the tumor."
Together with the physicists at Rice, Torchilin's team created a cancer treatment approach that combines chemical and physical modalities to more efficiently destroy a tumor while leaving nearby healthy cells intact.
"You start with two very well known and simple things," Torchilin said. "Nanomedicines and nanoparticles." Both allow clinicians to steer materials to specific cells in the body using recognition factors that are disproportionately expressed on cancer cells. In the case of drug-loaded tumor-targeted nanomedicines, cancer cells welcome much higher concentrations of drug molecules. In the case of nanoparticles, it's tiny tumor-targeted crumbs of gold that end up inside the tumor cells.
Both methods are commonly used, but this is the first time they have been combined in a single therapeutic approach, explained Torchilin, who received the 2013 Blaise Pascal Medal for Biomedical Science from the European Academy of Science for his outstanding contribution to science and technology and the promotion of excellence in research and education.
"So now you have normal cells with very few drug particles and gold particles, and cancer cells with a lot of those," he said. "When those particles come into the cell—just because of the way cells deal with foreign particles—they form clusters." In cancer cells, these clusters will be large while in normal cells they will be small.
Next, the cells are irradiated with a laser beam, which interacts with such clusters and provokes a kind of a mini-explosion inside the cancer cell. Not only does this disrupt the physical structure of the cell from the inside out, it also breaks the nanomedicine delivery system containing the drug molecules, causing a simultaneous and massive drug release, Torchilin said.
"In normal cells with small clusters, the explosion won't happen or it will be very small so you cannot damage normal cells," he said. "But in a cancer cell you have a large cluster, so the bubble will be big, which can damage the cell. But, simultaneously, like any strong strike, it will release the drug."
Each part of the treatment is necessary and works in concert with the others to create concurrent chemical and physical attacks on the cancer cell, while leaving healthy cells relatively unharmed. "You use the standard things," Torchilin said. "You just use them all together. Simple."
Explore further: A fast and effective mechanism to combat an aggressive cancer
More information: "On-demand intracellular amplification of chemoradiation with cancer-specific plasmonic nanobubbles." Ekaterina Y Lukianova-Hleb, et al. Nature Medicine (2014) DOI: 10.1038/nm.3484. Received 14 February 2013 Accepted 24 October 2013 Published online 01 June 2014
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Delivering drugs on time and on target
Feb 04, 2010
(PhysOrg.com) -- Northeastern professor leading research on nanocarriers that would make a whole new class of drugs available to treat cancer and other diseases
A fast and effective mechanism to combat an aggressive cancer
Feb 24, 2014
Ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths of American women than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 72 American women will be diagnosed with ...
'Quadrapeutics' works in preclinical study of hard-to-treat tumors
19 hours ago
The first preclinical study of a new Rice University-developed anti-cancer technology found that a novel combination of existing clinical treatments can instantaneously detect and kill only cancer cells—often ...
New technology using florescent proteins tracks cancer cells circulating in the blood
May 08, 2014
After cancer spreads, finding and destroying malignant cells that circulate in the body is usually critical to patient survival. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Chemistry & Biology have d ...
Signals found that recruit host animals' cells, enabling breast cancer metastasis
May 22, 2014
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have identified chemical signals that certain breast cancers use to recruit two types of normal cells needed for the cancers' spread. A description of the findings ...
Recommended for you
NHS missing cancer treatment waiting times target
1 hour ago
Figures released by NHS England show that 84.4% of people treated for all forms of cancer from January to March of 2014 began their treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred.
New drug to prevent breast cancer recurrence shows promise
17 hours ago
A new treatment option is more effective than tamoxifen at preventing a return of breast cancer in young women, according to the results of two international trials released Sunday.
Treatment extends life for men with prostate cancer
17 hours ago
A new treatment has been shown to extend the lifespans of men with advanced prostate cancer by as much as one year, researchers said Sunday.
New report estimates nearly 19 million cancer survivors in the US by 2024
17 hours ago
The number of cancer survivors in the United States, currently estimated to be 14.5 million, will grow to almost 19 million by 2024, according to an updated report by the American Cancer Society. The second ...
Oncologists: How to talk with your pathologist about cancer molecular testing
17 hours ago
As targeted therapies become more available, increasing opportunity exists to match treatments to the genetics of a specific cancer. But in order to make this match, oncologists have to know these genetics. This requires ...
Chemotherapy following radiation treatment improves progression-free survival
17 hours ago
A chemotherapy regimen consisting of procarbazine, CCNU, and vincristine (PCV) administered following radiation therapy improved progression-free survival and overall survival in adults with low-grade gliomas, a form of brain ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
by Angela Herring
Professor Vladimir Torchilin’s groundbreaking work in nanomedicine recently earned him the 2013 Blaise Pascal Medal for Biomedical Science from the European Academy of Science. Credit: Brooks Canaday.
(Medical Xpress)—Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones. This is the philosophy that Northeastern professor Vladimir Torchilin and his team took in new research carried out in collaboration with physics professor Dmitri Lapotko from Rice University and presented in a paper published Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.
"It's an absolutely new concept for treating cancer," said Torchilin, a Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of the School of Pharmacy's Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. "There are several factors combined in a very simple way, which results in a synergistic effect against the tumor."
Together with the physicists at Rice, Torchilin's team created a cancer treatment approach that combines chemical and physical modalities to more efficiently destroy a tumor while leaving nearby healthy cells intact.
"You start with two very well known and simple things," Torchilin said. "Nanomedicines and nanoparticles." Both allow clinicians to steer materials to specific cells in the body using recognition factors that are disproportionately expressed on cancer cells. In the case of drug-loaded tumor-targeted nanomedicines, cancer cells welcome much higher concentrations of drug molecules. In the case of nanoparticles, it's tiny tumor-targeted crumbs of gold that end up inside the tumor cells.
Both methods are commonly used, but this is the first time they have been combined in a single therapeutic approach, explained Torchilin, who received the 2013 Blaise Pascal Medal for Biomedical Science from the European Academy of Science for his outstanding contribution to science and technology and the promotion of excellence in research and education.
"So now you have normal cells with very few drug particles and gold particles, and cancer cells with a lot of those," he said. "When those particles come into the cell—just because of the way cells deal with foreign particles—they form clusters." In cancer cells, these clusters will be large while in normal cells they will be small.
Next, the cells are irradiated with a laser beam, which interacts with such clusters and provokes a kind of a mini-explosion inside the cancer cell. Not only does this disrupt the physical structure of the cell from the inside out, it also breaks the nanomedicine delivery system containing the drug molecules, causing a simultaneous and massive drug release, Torchilin said.
"In normal cells with small clusters, the explosion won't happen or it will be very small so you cannot damage normal cells," he said. "But in a cancer cell you have a large cluster, so the bubble will be big, which can damage the cell. But, simultaneously, like any strong strike, it will release the drug."
Each part of the treatment is necessary and works in concert with the others to create concurrent chemical and physical attacks on the cancer cell, while leaving healthy cells relatively unharmed. "You use the standard things," Torchilin said. "You just use them all together. Simple."
Explore further: A fast and effective mechanism to combat an aggressive cancer
More information: "On-demand intracellular amplification of chemoradiation with cancer-specific plasmonic nanobubbles." Ekaterina Y Lukianova-Hleb, et al. Nature Medicine (2014) DOI: 10.1038/nm.3484. Received 14 February 2013 Accepted 24 October 2013 Published online 01 June 2014
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Delivering drugs on time and on target
Feb 04, 2010
(PhysOrg.com) -- Northeastern professor leading research on nanocarriers that would make a whole new class of drugs available to treat cancer and other diseases
A fast and effective mechanism to combat an aggressive cancer
Feb 24, 2014
Ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths of American women than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 72 American women will be diagnosed with ...
'Quadrapeutics' works in preclinical study of hard-to-treat tumors
19 hours ago
The first preclinical study of a new Rice University-developed anti-cancer technology found that a novel combination of existing clinical treatments can instantaneously detect and kill only cancer cells—often ...
New technology using florescent proteins tracks cancer cells circulating in the blood
May 08, 2014
After cancer spreads, finding and destroying malignant cells that circulate in the body is usually critical to patient survival. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Chemistry & Biology have d ...
Signals found that recruit host animals' cells, enabling breast cancer metastasis
May 22, 2014
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have identified chemical signals that certain breast cancers use to recruit two types of normal cells needed for the cancers' spread. A description of the findings ...
Recommended for you
NHS missing cancer treatment waiting times target
1 hour ago
Figures released by NHS England show that 84.4% of people treated for all forms of cancer from January to March of 2014 began their treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred.
New drug to prevent breast cancer recurrence shows promise
17 hours ago
A new treatment option is more effective than tamoxifen at preventing a return of breast cancer in young women, according to the results of two international trials released Sunday.
Treatment extends life for men with prostate cancer
17 hours ago
A new treatment has been shown to extend the lifespans of men with advanced prostate cancer by as much as one year, researchers said Sunday.
New report estimates nearly 19 million cancer survivors in the US by 2024
17 hours ago
The number of cancer survivors in the United States, currently estimated to be 14.5 million, will grow to almost 19 million by 2024, according to an updated report by the American Cancer Society. The second ...
Oncologists: How to talk with your pathologist about cancer molecular testing
17 hours ago
As targeted therapies become more available, increasing opportunity exists to match treatments to the genetics of a specific cancer. But in order to make this match, oncologists have to know these genetics. This requires ...
Chemotherapy following radiation treatment improves progression-free survival
17 hours ago
A chemotherapy regimen consisting of procarbazine, CCNU, and vincristine (PCV) administered following radiation therapy improved progression-free survival and overall survival in adults with low-grade gliomas, a form of brain ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
0 comments:
Post a Comment