In a new study, researchers have developed a new nano-drug candidate that kills triple-negative breast cancer cells.
Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive and fatal types of breast cancer.
The research will help clinicians target breast cancer cells directly while avoiding the adverse, toxic side effects of chemotherapy.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Arkansas
With the exception of skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in American women. Thousands of women die from breast cancer each year.
Patients with triple-negative cells are especially vulnerable, because of the toxic side effects of the only approved treatment for this type of cancer.
The study linked a new class of nanomaterials, called metal-organic frameworks, with the ligands of an already-developed photodynamic therapy drug to create a nanoporous material that targets and kills tumor cells without creating toxicity for normal cells.
Metal-organic frameworks are an emerging class of nanomaterials designed for targeted drug delivery. Ligands are molecules that bind to other molecules.
In addition to cancer treatment, this novel drug delivery system could also be used with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or fluorescence imaging, which can track the drug in the body and monitor the progress of cancer treatment.
The American Cancer Society estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2019 and 41,760 deaths.
Currently, there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Since 2007, breast cancer death rates have been steady in women younger than 50 but have continued to decrease in older women.
This decrease is believed to be the result of earlier detection and better treatments.
Triple-negative breast cancer is aggressive and lacks estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which means it cannot be treated with receptor-targeted therapy.
It is difficult to treat with existing chemotherapy and often requires surgery because it quickly metastasizes throughout the body.
Cytotoxic chemotherapy is the only approved treatment for this type of breast cancer.
More than 80% of women with triple-negative breast cancer are treated with chemotherapy regimens that include anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin, which can cause cardiotoxicity as a serious side effect.
Furthermore, chemotherapy treatment of breast cancer cell lines using either 5-FU, cisplatin, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, or etoposide has shown multi-drug resistance.
One author of the study is Hassan Beyzavi, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
The study is published in Advanced Therapeutics.
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