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Researchers Testing Nanospheres In Battle Against Melanoma

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SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF REPORT

Published: February 4, 2009

Researchers may have taken another step toward a day when doctors can use microscopic spheres to destroy cancer cells from within.

A team of scientists at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have used a tiny structured dubbed a "targeted" nanosphere to kill melanoma cells in laboratory mice.

"Active targeting of nanoparticles to tumors is the holy grail of therapeutic nanotechnology for cancer," said Chun Li, professor in Anderson's Department of Experimental Diagnostic Imaging. "We're getting closer to that goal."

Li was the senior author on a research study appearing in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

LI

In their experiments Li and his colleagues targeted the gold nanospheres by adding to them a peptide that binds with a receptor found in overabundance in melanoma cells. A peptide is a short chain of amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

The Anderson researchers then injected both targeted and untargeted nanospheres into the lab mice. They found that the targeted nanospheres were much more likely to make it inside the melanoma cells than the untargeted nanospheres.

The untargeted nanospheres were more likely to be filtered out by the mice's spleens and livers. The bodies of mice and humans normally direct foreign particles, like the nanospheres, and defective cells to the spleen and liver for destruction by the immune system.

"There are many biological barriers to effective use of nanoparticles, with the liver and spleen being the most important," Li said.

Once the nanospheres were inside the melanoma cells the researchers bathed them with near-ultraviolet light. Hitting cells with near-UV light, called photothermal ablation, burns up the aggressive skin cancer cells from within.

Until now, however, when doctors have used photothermal ablation against melanoma cells many surrounding noncancerous cells were also killed. The Anderson experiments were able to kill melanoma cells with the nanospheres inside with a dose of light only 12 percent as intense as the used light used against cells without the nanospheres. This reduces the damage to the healthy cells.

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