“Smart Bomb” Nanoparticles Show Promise for Chemo Delivery

Researchers from the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine are reporting on their efforts to embed chemotherapy drugs within tumor targeting nanoparticles.
From the abstract in PNAS:

We designed an ανβ3-targeted nanoparticle (NP) encapsulating the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin (Dox) for targeted drug delivery to the ανβ3-expressing tumor vasculature. We observed real-time targeting of this NP to tumor vessels and noted selective apoptosis in regions of the ανβ3-expressing tumor vasculature. In clinically relevant pancreatic and renal cell orthotopic models of spontaneous metastasis, targeted delivery of Dox produced an antimetastatic effect. In fact, ανβ3-mediated delivery of this drug to the tumor vasculature resulted in a 15-fold increase in antimetastatic activity without producing drug-associated weight loss as observed with systemic administration of the free drug.

Press release: “Smart Bomb” Nanoparticle Strategy Impacts Metastasis…
Abstract in PNAS…
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