Since previous few years, we have observed various efforts by the experts to find out cancer cell as a replacement for the shotgun approach employed by chemotherapy that also harm healthy cell. The purpose behind it was to develop a delivery vehicle that detects only cancer cell ignoring the healthy cells. Finally researchers found charged polymers that have this ability. It opened the door for nanoparticles which contain cancer-fighting drugs to supply their payload directly to the cancer cells rather than healthy cell.
In previous approaches, researchers rely on coating nanoparticles with molecules that are detected by receptors on the cancer that allow access for delivery of drugs into the cancer cells. However the researchers at University of Freiburg in Germany said these receptors can change, by cutting off access to the cancer cell. Finally research team remained successful to develop a new approach that doesn’t rely on these receptors.
In this research study experts focused on endothelial cells that make up the blood vessels and supply tumors with continuously. The cell skin contains a large amount of structure called caveolae which are lipid rafts and act as gatekeepers to the cells. The research team led by Prof. Prasad Shastri found that decorating nanoparticles, made of lipids allowed the nanoparticles to enter into the cancer cells through this door.
“How exactly these charged polymers enable the nanoparticles to unlock this door we are not sure yet, but we feel confident that with further studies this method could usher in a new approach to delivery of drugs in general,” said Shastri. “This is a remarkable discovery, as it allows for the first time to target a specific cell type purely through biophysical principles, and without using the traditional ligand-receptor approach.”
“By going after endothelial cells that make up these blood vessels, we can starve the tumor or kill it with one payload,” words of a co-author on the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
