Cancer Research

The global rates of cancer are increasing rapidly. 40% of people are diagnosed with cancer within their lifetimes.2 This is based on current data however, and the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that cancer cases will rise by 70% in the next two decades, making that percentage well above 50.1 This means that the average person should assume that they will be diagnosed with cancer. This is a terrifying thought, especially for those in developing countries.

In the U.S., 66% of people with cancer survive for 5 years after their diagnosis, but the survival rate is much lower in developing countries.2 The initial cost of treating cancer averages $50,000, and the average human yearly income is $10,000 a year.3 Most people cannot even afford to treat cancer at all. Despite this, more people are surviving cancer, with the survival rates increasing by 1-2% each year. This trend is due to improvements in early detection and treatment. Nanomedicine could make this growth even more significant, saving millions of lives.

The hope for low-cost cancer treatment comes in the form of nanotechnology. The most common current treatments for cancer are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.4 These are expensive treatments for one’s health aside from the price tag. Targeted drug delivery using nanoparticles allows medication to be delivered directly to cancer cells without any invasive procedures. Nanotechnology is defined as technology on a scale of less than 100 nanometers, which is about 1/1000 the width of a human hair. Dr. Robert Langer, a prolific figure in nanomedical research and drug delivery, describes their usage; “Targeted nanotherapeutics (containing potentially toxic drugs) capable of finding diseased tissue and delivering treatment directly, ideally sparing the rest of the body from the potentially toxic substance, may improve safety and efficacy.” 9 In medicine, these technologies are useful for making drugs that can deliver themselves to certain destinations - nanoparticles allow the drugs to only attach or release their payload when cancer cells are in close proximity.7 This prevents toxicity in other parts of the body and allows for the destruction of cancer cells without any invasive or toxic treatment.

One method that nanoparticles are being used for targeted cancer treatment is by preventing metastasis. Metastasis of a tumor is the process by which the tumor spreads into the other organs of the body, resulting in death. To do this cancer cells rely on adding sialic acids to sugars in the body, allowing them to bind to the sugars and transport.5 Drugs that prevent the sialic acid from binding to sugars in the whole body would stop metastasis but also kill the patient, so the drug must be targeted to the cancer cells. This can be done using a nano-sized vessel made of PLGA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)).5 This nanoparticle’s affinity for tumors allows the drug to prevent metastasis without damaging any of the body’s other processes.8 These drugs could also be taken orally as medication, reducing the cost of treatment significantly and giving patients more time to fight cancer.

A much simpler nanoparticle also has potential for treating cancer; gold nanoparticles can be used as a targeting devices for both drugs and radiation. Gold nanoparticles can be modified to bind to different parts of cells in the body, and can accumulate in the disorganized vasculature of a tumor.5 By coating anti-cancer drugs with gold nanoparticles, the drugs can destroy the tumors without touching anything else. The nanoparticles are useful for drug delivery, but they also help with radiotherapy. By accumulating in tumors, gold nanoparticles make them more susceptible to radiation and heat, making radiotherapy more effective.5 This could also make it possible to reduce the amount of radiation used, preventing other problems and side effects. This effect can also help with imaging, making it easier to spot tumors in the body and choose the best treatment options.9

These technologies are much needed in developing countries, where cancer rates and detection rates are increasing, but treatment is almost entirely lacking. This problem is apparent even in more developed cities like Nairobi, in Kenya, where the only radiotherapy machines that were cost-accessible to most people broke, leaving hundreds of cancer patients at risk.10 If the hospital had access to drugs that prevent metastasis using targeted nanoparticle drug delivery methods, doctors could prevent patients’ tumors from growing rapidly while the machines were repaired. Still, there are only four radiation cancer treatment centers in Kenya, despite the 40,000 cancer cases happening every year.10 These four centers are all in Nairobi. For the majority of people to receive treatment targeted drug delivery pills like those being developed with gold or PLGA nanoparticles would be the most effective, because no machines would be needed to deliver the drugs. Pills are comparatively inexpensive to current treatments and can be distributed to even the most remote areas, unlike the most common cancer treatments that need stationary machines. Cancer is one of humanity’s biggest problems, and it is growing. The extremely high cost of treatment prevents many from treating cancer, and many of those who are treated still die. We need new solutions and treatments, and nanoparticles are an effective new approach that will certainly make an impact.

Cancer rates and detection rates are increasing, but treatment is almost entirely lacking. This problem is apparent even in more developed cities like Nairobi, in Kenya, where the only radiotherapy machines that were cost-accessible to most people broke, leaving hundreds of cancer patients at risk.10 If the hospital had access to drugs that prevent metastasis using targeted nanoparticle drug delivery methods, doctors could prevent patients’ tumors from growing rapidly while the machines were repaired. Still, there are only four radiation cancer treatment centers in Kenya, despite the 40,000 cancer cases happening every year.10 These four centers are all in Nairobi. For the majority of people to receive treatment targeted drug delivery pills like those being developed with gold or PLGA nanoparticles would be the most effective, because no machines would be needed to deliver the drugs. Pills are comparatively inexpensive to current treatments and can be distributed to even the most remote areas, unlike the most common cancer treatments that need stationary machines. Cancer is one of humanity’s biggest problems, and it is growing. The extremely high cost of treatment prevents many from treating cancer, and many of those who are treated still die. We need new solutions and treatments, and nanoparticles are an effective new approach that will certainly make an impact.

Sources:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/

http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/all.html

http://costprojections.cancer.gov/annual.costs.html

http://www.cancer.org/treatment/understandingyourdiagnosis/talkingaboutcancer/whensomeoneyouknowhascancer/when-somebody-you-know-has-cancer-cancer-treatment-questions

http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/01/nanoparticle-drug-stops-cancer-s-spread-mice

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3473940/

http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v7/n9/full/nrd2614.html

http://www.apjcpcontrol.org/paper_file/issue_abs/Volume15_No2/517-535%209.16%20Fatemeh%20Sadat%20Tabatabaei%20Mirakabad%20(REVIEW).pdf

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2089360

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenyatta-National-Hospital-Radiotherapy-Machines-Cancer/-/1056/2658378/-/110cg1h/-/