Mol. Pharmaceutics: Canadian scientists develop new method to deliver cancer drugs accurately to tumors

Today,colorectal cancera common type of cancer, with the highest incidence and fatality rates in the world, with nearly 2 million new cases and nearly 900,000 deaths in 2018 aloneIn China, the number of colorectal cancer patients also showed a significant upward trendRecently, researchers from Canada have developed a technique that can more accurately deliver anticancer drugs to colorectal cancer tumor sitesSo far, the nanoparticle materialused for drug delivery is mainly polymers, drugs in the polymer nanoparticles can be diffused or the degradation of the polymer itself to achieve slow release or controlled releaseRecently, researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada modified nanoparticles to more accurately deliver anticancer drugs to colorectal cancer tumor sitesthe study was led by Frank Wuest, an oncologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, and published in the journal Molecular PharmacyTitled "Synthesis and Analysis of 64Cu-Labeled GE11-Modified Polymeric Micellar Nanoparticles for EGFR-Targeted Molecular Imaging in a Colorectal Model"polymer beam nanoparticles are multi-purpose biocompatible platforms targeted at drug givingHowever, tracking their biological distribution, stability and clearance rates in the body is a challengeIn this study, scientists modified the surface of nanoparticles with epidermal growth factors (EGF), a peptide bound to EGF receptors on cancer cellshe then marked the nanoparticles with radioactive tracers and observed their location using positron emission tomography (PET) to test whether the modified nanoparticles were specific ally for tumor cellsin vitro fluorescence studies showed that GE11 gel beams significantly enhanced the internalization of the CELLS of the eGFR expression of HCT116colon cancercells compared to EGFR-negative SW620 cellsThey then marked the beam with a radioactive 64Cu for positron emission tomographyThe analysis of 64Cu marker bundles in the body showed that blood circulation was prolonged and the rate of liver and bile removal increased"We found that these nanoparticles modified with epidermal growth factors showed higher concentration in tumor cells while retaining healthy cells," Wuest saidHe is also a member of the North Alberta Cancer Institute (CRINA)While Frank Wuest, Wuest is working with CRINA members Michael Weinfeld and Afsaneh-Lavasanifar on a larger study aimed at improving the treatment of colorectal cancer by targeting specific components of DNA repair mechanismsThe detected and modified nanoparticles will load a drug developed by another project team and deploy to colorectal cancer cells"Our imaging technology has proven that we can direct nanoparticles to cancer and tumors," Wuest saidNow we're going to integrate these cancer drugs into the nanoparticle platformWhile Wuest's team focused specifically on colorectal cancer in their study, he noted that general nanoparticle platforms used for drug delivery could be used in conjunction with a variety of other cancer drugsThis will help cancer drugs to moreand accurately target cancer cellsto improve drug utilization and reduce side effects