Home > Press > Biodegradable Biopolymer Nanoparticles Hold Promise for Twin Attack on Breast Cancer
Abstract:
Using a biodegradable polymer produced by a slime mold, a team of investigators from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has created a multifunctional nanoparticle that attacks a key pathway involved in breast cancer in two different ways. Tests using animals with human breast tumors showed that the new nanoparticle produced a 90% reduction in tumor growth.
Julia Ljubimova, principal investigator of the National Cancer Institute-funded Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnership at Cedars Sinai, led this study. She and her colleagues published their findings in the journal Cancer Research.
Late last year, Dr. Ljubimova and her team had demonstrated that nanoparticles made from the slime mold polymer polymalic acid could successfully target brain tumors and that these nanoparticles were well-tolerated by laboratory animals. In the current work, the Cedars-Sinai team used the same polymer as the backbone on which to hang an antisense oligonucleotide that would greatly reduce a breast cancer cell's production of the HER2/neu protein; the drug Herceptin, which acts to target cancer cells and to further block the activity of the HER2/neu protein; and an antibody to the transferrin receptor, which is overexpressed on the blood vessels that surround tumors. This antibody serves as an initial targeting agent that helps concentrate the nanoparticle around tumors.
When the researchers used this construct to treat mice bearing human HER2/neu-positive breast tumors, the results were dramatic. HER2/new activity dropped precipitously in the treated animals, resulting in a marked reduction in tumor growth and even tumor regression. In contrast, tumor growth was only partially inhibited in animals treated with either Herceptin or the antisense oligonucleotide.
####
About The National Cancer Institute (NCI)
The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer is engaged in efforts to harness the power of nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer. Through its programs and initiatives, the Alliance is committed to building a community of researchers dedicated to using nanotechnology to advance the fight against cancer.
As part of the Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives, the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer works in concert with other NCI advanced technology initiatives to provide the scientific foundation and team science that is required to transform cancer research and care.
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
National Cancer Institute
Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives
NCI Office of Cancer Nanotechnology Research (OCNR)
Building 31, Room 10A52
31 Center Drive, MSC 2580
Bethesda, MD 20892-2580
Telephone: (301) 451-8983
Copyright © The National Cancer Institute (NCI)
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related Links |
Related News Press |
News and information
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Nanomedicine
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Good as gold - improving infectious disease testing with gold nanoparticles April 5th, 2024
Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024
Discoveries
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||