Using targeted nanomedicine to cause less side-effects with chemotherapy

Why did we fund this project?

• Chemotherapy is a common treatment used in advanced prostate cancer. However, like all cancer treatments, there are potential side effects. 
• There's an urgent need for targeted treatments that are better at specifically killing the cancer cells and not damaging healthy cells. Achieving this would mean less side effects for men.
• Dr Al-Jamal and her team are using a technique called targeted nanomedicine, which uses nano-carriers (60-80x smaller than a human hair!) to transport chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells. They can then gently heat the nano-carriers to ensure they only release the chemotherapy where the cancer cells are.

• Dr Al-Jamal is attempting to design and create nano-carriers loaded with chemotherapy to target cancer cells without causing as much damage to healthy cells.
• The team showed that the nano-carriers loaded with chemotherapy extended the lives of mice with tumours - this would be very promising if these results could be shown in men.

What did the team do?

• The team successfully designed and created a nano-carrier capable of holding the inactive chemotherapy. 
• When the chemotherapy comes into contact with a target that is only found in prostate cancer cells, it becomes activated and then gains a toxic effect.
• These nano-carriers holding the chemotherapy were made to be extra-sensitive to mild heat and so when they reach their correct location, they can be gently heated, causing a release of the chemotherapy at the cancer cells specific location.
• The team tested these nano-carries in prostate cancer cell lines and also in mouse models to determine whether their treatment was effective, safe and reduced side effects.

What did the team achieve?

What does this mean for men?

• The team demonstrates that chemotherapy can be successfully loaded into nano-carriers and delivered to target tissues in mice and in cells.
• With further testing on safety and development of this method, the goal would be to bring this into clinical trials with men.
• Hopefully this could also improve how effective chemotherapy is in specifically killing cancer cells and offer a new possibility to treat advanced prostate cancer with less side effects than conventional treatment.