Indian makes 'bomb' to kill cancer

A nanocell designed by Prof Ram Sasisekharan et al at MIT has opened the way for more effective cancer treatment, reports S Rajagopalan.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has engineered what it calls an “anti-cancer smart bomb”, thanks to some pioneering work by a team of researchers, led by an Indian professor.

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A nanocell, designed by Prof Ram Sasisekharan and his team, has opened the way for a new, effective way to administer existing anti-cancer drugs. The new therapy, successfully tried out on mice, has been found to be safe and  potent against the widely prevalent lung and skin (melanoma) cancers.

Now, a cancer drug can burrow into a tumour, seal the exits and detonate a lethal dose of anti-cancer toxins, all of this while leaving the healthy cells unscathed, says an MIT announcement.

The finding, being reported in the July 28 issue of Nature, describes how the new methodology has prolonged the life of afflicted mice. “Eighty per cent of the nanocell mice survived beyond 65 days, while mice treated with the best current therapy survived 30 days. Untreated animals died at 20.”

Speaking to Hindustan Times from Boston, Sasisekharan said he will be evaluating options over the next few months for fast track human trials. Since the procedure uses existing drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he does not anticipate the time-lags usually associated with human trials.

“The fundamental challenges in cancer chemotherapy are its toxicity to healthy cells and drug resistance by cancer cells...You can‘t deliver chemotherapy to tumours if you have destroyed the vessels that take it there,” he says while explaining how the nanocell procedure takes care of these problems.

“Once the nanocell is inside the tumour, its outer membrane disintegrates, rapidly deploying the anti-angiogenic drug. The blood vessels feeding the tumour then collapse, trapping the loaded nanoparticle in the tumour, while it slowly releases the chemotherapy.”

The professor of biological engineering says the patient survival chances and quality of life inspire his team’s research, bringing together three elements: cancer biology, pharmacology and engineering. His team consists of another Indian, Shiladitya Sengupta, a post-doctoral associate, and five other researchers.

The team found that the nanocell worked better against melanoma than lung cancer, indicating the need to tweak the design for different cancers. “This model enables us to rationally and systematically evaluate drug combinations and loading mechanisms. It’s not going to stop here,” says Sasisekharan.