Can we use Nanomaterials for treatment of cancer?

Dear doctor

This is chosen from a notable article written by Cheng et al. (2021)

"Cancer is a disease with complex pathological process. Current chemotherapy faces problems such as lack of specificity, cytotoxicity, induction of multi-drug resistance and stem-like cells growth. Nanomaterials are materials in the nanorange 1–100 nm which possess unique optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. Nanomaterials used in cancer therapy can be classified into several main categories. Targeting cancer cells, tumor microenvironment, and immune system, these nanomaterials have been modified for a wide range of cancer therapies to overcome toxicity and lack of specificity, enhance drug capacity as well as bioavailability. Although the number of studies has been increasing, the number of approved nano-drugs has not increased much over the years. To better improve clinical translation, further research is needed for targeted drug delivery by nano-carriers to reduce toxicity, enhance permeability and retention effects, and minimize the shielding effect of protein corona.

In general, various surface modification can be achieved on different nanomaterials, and in many cases, conventional anti-tumor chemical drugs can be loaded into different nanocarriers. It is crucial for researchers to be well aware of the characteristics of the selected nanoplatform as well as properties of therapeutic agents. For instance, EVs are biocompatible vesicles with ability to escape the immune surveillance and internalize smoothly with target cells, a possible strategy might be using antibody modified EV to deliver key gene therapy agents to targeted cancer cells. Based on photothermal properties CNTs and metallic materials possess, nanoplatform functions with chemotherapy and PTT can be designed to produce synergistic effect. CNTs have the potential to achieve better anti-tumor efficacy for the feature that they can provide several kinds of therapies at the same time. Both targeted delivery and non-targeted delivery employ nanomaterials as vehicles to transport chemical drugs, peptide/protein molecules, small molecule inhibitors or use the material as immune system stimulant, photothermal medium, chemodynamic medium. Modification of the nanomaterial platform including inner content and external moiety plays an important role in the efficacy, targeting ability, biocompatibility and toxicity of the nanoplatform complex."

Moina Akhtar Moghal

Dear dr.Sundas iam grateful for your great response 😊

Regards

Muhammad Kashif

Dear MADAM Mona akhtar

Yes, nanomaterials have shown significant potential for use in the treatment of cancer, and ongoing research is exploring various ways to harness their unique properties for improved cancer therapies. Here are some ways nanomaterials are being investigated for cancer treatment:

Drug Delivery: Nanoparticles can be engineered to carry chemotherapy drugs, targeted therapies, or other therapeutic agents directly to cancer cells. This can improve drug efficacy while reducing side effects on healthy tissues. The nanoparticles can be designed to release their cargo in response to specific stimuli, such as changes in pH or temperature, which are characteristic of the tumor microenvironment.

Photothermal Therapy: Some nanomaterials, like gold nanoparticles, can absorb light and convert it into heat. This property is being exploited in photothermal therapy, where nanoparticles are delivered to tumors and then exposed to near-infrared light. This localized heat generation can selectively destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.

Photodynamic Therapy: Nanoparticles can also be used in conjunction with light to activate photosensitizers, which produce reactive oxygen species when exposed to light. These reactive species can cause cell death in cancer cells. This approach, known as photodynamic therapy, can be targeted using nanoparticles to enhance its effectiveness.

Hyperthermia Treatment: Nanoparticles can be heated using external magnetic fields to induce hyperthermia, which is the elevation of tissue temperature. Hyperthermia treatment can damage cancer cells and enhance the effects of traditional therapies like radiation and chemotherapy.

Targeted Therapy and Imaging: Nanoparticles can be functionalized with molecules that specifically bind to cancer cells, allowing for targeted drug delivery and imaging. This helps in accurately locating tumors and delivering therapies directly to them.

Gene Therapy: Nanoparticles can also be used to deliver genetic material, such as small interfering RNA (siRNA) or gene-editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9, to cancer cells. This approach can modulate gene expression in cancer cells to halt their growth or trigger cell death.

Immune System Modulation: Certain nanomaterials can interact with the immune system, either by enhancing immune responses against cancer cells or suppressing immunosuppressive mechanisms that tumors often employ.

While nanomaterial-based cancer treatments hold great promise, there are also challenges to overcome, including issues related to safety, stability, and scalability. Researchers are actively working on addressing these challenges to bring these innovative therapies closer to clinical applications

Yogendra Kumar

Definately, nanoparticles application for cancer treatment and biomedical research is well researched. However, drug delivery to potetial delivery site is quite challenging task. Kindly, please consider these articles for your further research

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/nr/d2nr07163k

Article Recent Advances in Nanoparticle-Based Cancer Treatment: A Review

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/tb/d0tb01733g

Balram Lohan

https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15031025

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-021-01096-0

Thomas Jüstel

Dear Moina,

Yes we can and some particle types are already under investigation for this purpose, e.g.

Fe3O4, HfO2, Au NPs, 177LuPO4, and so on....

All the best,

Thomas

P. Aji Udhaya

Many of the material science researchers are trying to check anticancerous activity of the new or modified nanoparticles to find better medicine for cancer. But compatability of the nanoparticle with living tissue should be analyzed.

André Valério Salles

O MELHOR DA NANOTECNOLOGIA É AJUDAR NA MEDICINA, DE N FORMAS. INCLUSIVE, ESSE ESTUDO DESCOBRIU QUE O AR É POLUÍDO POR NANOPARTÍCULAS DE PLÁSTICOS, CUJA POLUIÇÃO RESPIRAMOS SEM SABER QUE ISTO EXISTIA, E QUE TERÁ MAUS RESULTADOS PULMONARES PARA TODOS NO FUTURO PRÓXIMO.

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