Ang Chem Int Ed: Scientists have developed a new collaborative anti-cancer combination therapy that could hopefully target multiple types of cancer

Oct 21, 2020 // -- To eliminate cancer cells, scientists are increasingly turning to combination therapies; in a recent study published in the international journal Angeandte Chemie International Edition, scientists from the German Magonists Institute and Dalian University of Technology in China In combination with photodynamic therapy to develop a new type of anti-cancer combination therapy, the researchers say all agents can be wrapped in nanocapsules carrying protein shells and then transported to tumors, where light exposure induces a series of cascading events that destroy tumor cells.
Photo Source: Angewandte Chemie's different anticancer agents use different strategies, DNA damage agents can cause DNA dysfunction so that tumors can't grow, and when tumor tissue is exposed, photodynamic agents produce reactive oxygen (ROS), which then interferes with the organocellulars in the cells and pushes the cells into the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis).
However, some cancer cells develop resistance so that the drug does not enter the cancer cells or the cancer cells can quickly repair damaged DNA strands, and in order to enhance the effectiveness of the therapy, the researchers combined chemotherapy with photodynamic therapy to develop a combination of anticancer therapies, all of which can be wrapped in nanocapsules and transported to tumor cells.
photodynamic therapy is not effective in treating solid tumors because oxygen levels in solid tumors are too low to produce enough reactive oxygen, so scientists used a modified system to partially recover oxygen, in which photosensitive agents produce reactive oxygen when exposed to light. Enzymes in cells convert reactive oxygen into hydrogen peroxide, while another reagent called Fenton reagent reverses hydrogen peroxide into reactive oxygen and oxygen molecules, and Fenton reagents are iron at its highest price of oxidation.
researchers say loading all preparations into a nanocapsules is a major challenge, with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin insoluble in water and the egg white protein as a nanocapsules protein insoluble in organic solvents;
researchers tested the system in tumor cell line, where nanocapsules can enter cells and release their loads, while releasing reactive oxygen when given red light, and the drug preparations they load can also kill cancer cells that are resistant to cisplatin or have very low oxygen concentrations.
researchers say the combined package of drugs can effectively block tumor growth in mice, which accumulate in tumor tissue and promote tumor atrophy over time without affecting the body's healthy tissue and other organs.
The study in this paper reveals how scientists can work together by loading anti-cancer agents into nanocapsules and transporting them to tumors, and that treatments using only one or two agents may not be effective in killing cancer cells, so a collaborative platform similar to the one developed by researchers in this paper may play a key role in the development of new anti-cancer combination therapies in the future.
() Original source: Shuai Jiang et al. Synergistic Anticancer Therapy by Ovalbumin Encapsulation-Enabled Tandem ROS Generation, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2020). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202006649