Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Polymer Nanoparticle Overcomes Anticancer Drug Resistance

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Abstract:
In a nanotechnology two-for-one, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Hopkins CCNE) have created a polymer nanoparticle that overcomes tumor resistance to the common anticancer agent doxorubicin and that protects the heart against drug-triggered damage, a therapy-ending side effect that limits doxorubicin's effectiveness. This novel nanoparticle incorporates both doxorubicin and curcumin, a major component of the bright yellow spice turmeric.

Polymer Nanoparticle Overcomes Anticancer Drug Resistance

Bethesda, MD | Posted on August 21st, 2012

This work was led by Anirban Maitra, a principal investigator in the Hopkins CCNE. Dr. Maitra and his colleagues published the results of their work in the journal Oncotarget.

Numerous studies over the past few years have shown that high doses of curcumin can overcome the resistance to multiple anticancer agents that many, if not most, tumors develop over time. Curcumin, however, is poorly soluble in the blood stream and as a result, getting high enough levels of this agent to tumors has proven challenging. Dr. Maitra's approach to solving this problem has been to use polymer nanoparticles to deliver curcumin to tumors. He and his colleagues have published several papers over the past two years describing the development and behavior of their curcumin-nanoparticle formulation and its ability to make drug-resistant tumors susceptible to chemotherapy.

In their current paper, the investigators discuss how they prepared a polymer nanoparticle containing both curcumin and doxorubicin. Both in vitro and animal tests demonstrated that this formulation had striking anticancer activity in models of multiple myeloma, leukemia, and prostate and ovarian cancers. Perhaps equally important, the animals treated with the nanoparticle did not experience any cardiac toxicity or bone marrow suppression, even at cumulative doses that normally trigger cardiac toxicity by free doxorubicin or liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin, which was the first nanoparticle drug approved for use in treating cancer in humans and is widely used in treating breast cancer. Further examination of the heart-protecting characteristics of this formulation showed that encapsulating doxorubicin in a polymer nanoparticle spared heart muscle cells from oxidative stress normally triggered by doxorubicin.

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About The National Cancer Institute (NCI)
To help meet the goal of reducing the burden of cancer, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is engaged in efforts to harness the power of nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, treat and prevent cancer.

The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer is a comprehensive, systematized initiative encompassing the public and private sectors, designed to accelerate the application of the best capabilities of nanotechnology to cancer.

Currently, scientists are limited in their ability to turn promising molecular discoveries into benefits for cancer patients. Nanotechnology can provide the technical power and tools that will enable those developing new diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventives to keep pace with today’s explosion in knowledge.

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Contacts:
National Cancer Institute
Office of Technology & Industrial Relations
ATTN: NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer
Building 31, Room 10A49
31 Center Drive , MSC 2580
Bethesda , MD 20892-2580

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