Oregon Health & Science University researchers say they have created a new “one-two punch” to be used to combat hard-to-manage cancerous tumors.
Their “dual-functional nanomaterial” will permit surgeons to more precisely target tumors with ultrasound, then follow up with targeted chemotherapy to attack any surviving cancerous cells, they say in a study published in the May 5 edition of the journal Nano Letters.
Dr. Li Xiang is a postdoc scholar with the Knight Cancer Center’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center, or CEDAR, and the co-lead author of “Peptide Amphiphile – Nanoparticle Assemblies for Mechano-Chemo Combination Therapy” with Michael Henderson, a PhD student in biomedical engineering at CEDAR.
The nanoparticle developed by Xiang and Henderson and their colleagues uses tiny bubbles and a peptide coating that, in theory, could allow a surgeon to zero in on cellular-level targets with ultrasound, then deliver a chemotherapy drug to the affected area. “The ultrasound physically destroys the tumor, and the drug helps eliminate any leftover cancer cells that might cause the tumor to return,” Xiang told an OHSU writer.
Their study showed positive results in mice. “Our nanoparticles reduce the energy needed for ultrasound treatment by up to 100-fold,” Henderson told an OHSU writer. “This allows us to use short ultrasound pulses to disrupt tumors mechanically, without overheating surrounding tissue.”
Nanoparticles are a broadly explored frontier in non-invasive treatment of cancerous tissue. The National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health lists 118 current clinical trials involving the search terms “cancer” and “nanoparticle.” Earlier this year, a team of Oregon State University researchers working at OHSU discussed their work using nanoparticles to target cancerous cells with lethal doses of heat.
The approach taken by the CEDAR team “pops” the bubbles on the particle’s surface to create a decisive dose of heat to the cancerous cells, and then applies a chemotherapy drug to the particle’s peptide-coated surface.
As a surgical tool, the combination nanoparticle is in its infancy. But Henderson said the research “lays the foundation for a new kind of nanoparticle-based therapy that could improve how we approach hard-to-treat tumors.”
Even as OHSU touts the results of the promising study, the university says its research mission is under siege as the federal government slashes grant funding. Oregon’s congressional delegation and others have raised the alarm about the prospect of the deep cuts in federal funding taking an $80 million bite out of OHSU. Peter Barr-Gillespie, OHSU’s chief research officer, told board meeting attendees in April that he doesn’t think research at OHSU will survive in its current state.
