Nano package exterminates cancer cells.

Taking a break from revision for my in-class test in Drug Delivery Systems 2, I went on the Science daily website; an article caught my eye, titled “Designer nano luggage to carry drugs to diseased cells”. Cancer immediately sprung to my mind as I recently completed a case study assignment on natural products extracts in the treatment of certain cancers.

The article states that this technology works by decorating the external surface of nano particles with molecules which guide them to where they are needed in the body, before the chemical load is then discharged to exert its effect on diseased cells. The containers are particles of the Cowpea mosaic virus, which is ideally suited for designing biomaterial at the nanoscale.¹

One potential application could be in oncology. Integrins are molecules that appear on cancer cells. The virus particles could be coated externally with peptides that bind to integrins. This would mean the particles seek out cancer cells to the exclusion of healthy cells. Once bound to the cancer cell, the virus particle would release an anti-cancer agent that has been carried as an internal cargo.¹

Most of the current cancer therapies available are cytotoxic i.e. they damage healthy cells as well as the cancerous cells, leading to side effects like alopecia, mouth sores, delirium, constipation, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, e.t.c. This technology could deliver the anticancer drug in a more targeted and specific way.

References

1.    Norwich BioScience Institutes. Designer Nano Luggage to Carry Drugs to Diseased Cells [Internet]. 2010 Mar 14 [cited 2010 Mar 15]. Available from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100309202929.htm