Researchers at the ibs.GRANADA have succeeded in attaching drugs to nanoparticles to destroy tumor stem cells that cause breast cancer relapse
A team of scientists from ibs.GRANADA have successfully tested, in breast cancer tumor cell cultures, a new formula to administer the drug paclitaxel by transporting it in nanoparticles developed from the molecule called trypalmitin. The results of this work have been published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports, of the Nature Group.
Paclitaxel (Taxol), like other agents used to treat women with breast cancer, has limited activity on tumor stem cells, which in many cases develop mechanisms that make them resistant to the effects of treatment. This phenomenon, known as drug resistance, renders chemotherapy ineffective and causes the disease to recur. The development of new formulas for the administration of antitumor agents is an essential research avenue to improve the response of patients to treatment.
The research work led by Dr. José Carlos Prados, head of the research group of the group "A01 Technologies Applied to Oncology and Gene Therapy" of ibs.GRANADA and professor of the Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology and member of the Biomedical Research Center (CIBM) of the UGR, and Dr. Juan Manuel López Romero, professor of the Department of Organic Chemistry of the UMA, has been developed within an Excellence Research Project directed by Professor José Manuel Baeyens, professor of the Department of Pharmacology and also a member of the CIBM of the UGR and of the ibs.Granada.
The project has had the collaboration of researchers from the Biosanitary Research Institute and the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada.
Studies have shown for the first time that the transport of paclitaxel in a solid lipid system based on the structure of the tripalmitin molecule, allows not only to act more effectively on individual tumor cells and on groups of tumor cells (multicellular spheroids) but also on the tumor stem cells responsible for their reappearance after initial treatment.
The biocompatibility of these nanoparticles, both in vitro and in vivo, opens the door to their possible development to carry out experiences in patients. In addition, the possibility of directing the nanoparticles through their functionalization would allow us to be more selective in the treatment of this disease and reduce its side effects.
- Bibliographic reference
Tripalmitin nanoparticle formulations significantly enhance paclitaxel antitumor activity against breast and lung cancer cells in vitro. Leiva MC, Ortiz R, Contreras-Cáceres R, Perazzoli G, Mayevych I, López-Romero JM, Sarabia F, Baeyens JM, Melguizo C, Prados J. Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 18; 7 (1): 13506. doi: 10.1038 / s41598-017-13816-z.