(NHI Nanoblog) Scientists at UCLA are touting a new method of using a nano-therapy based on a patient’s own cells to rouse their immune system and fight cancer. The barrel-shaped “vault” could be a big step forward in battling conditions, such as lung cancer, that are particularly difficult to treat.
Unlike some other treatments in development that use nanotechnology, these vaults contain no outside material. The vaults are engineered to release a protein into tumors, which then prods the immune system to eradicate the cancer cells.
The results, based on a study done on lung cancer tumors mice, were published in the online scientific journal PLoS One. Click on the video to watch Leonard Rome, a researcher at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate director of the university’s California NanoSystems Institute, discuss the concepts.
Nanotechnology leverages super-small particles (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter) to create products with remarkable properties. These materials can make bike frames lighter and stronger and sunscreen more transparent on the skin, as well as new medical instruments and medicines that can save lives.
There is broad agreement that nanomaterials hold great promise for a wide variety of applications. But shrinking these substances can change their properties; scientists are struggling to figure out whether, how and why that shift can make them dangerous in the process.
While some nano-sized cancer treatments use substances such as gold to create super-targeted therapies, the vault concept focuses on carrying a particular protein to the tumor area. That protein, which is released slowly, stimulates T‑cells, which are the body’s natural defense mechanism. A single injection, the authors write, “led to significant inhibition in tumor growth.”
According to a UCLA news release, the researchers next want to try the treatment on humans, via a clinical trial.