According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the leading cause of death globally, accounting for almost 10 million deaths in 2020. Since different types of cancer are caused by various factors, a correct cancer diagnosis is needed for appropriate and effective treatment required in a specific treatment regimen.
Molecules That Assemble Themselves
Chemist Xuequan Zhou and his team developed a type of molecule that can be injected into the bloodstream, where they assemble into nanoparticles that accumulate in the tumor. Then the tumor will be attacked by targeted irradiation with visible light.
Treatment with similar technology attaches the chemotherapy drugs to nanoparticles in the laboratory. Then it will be administered by doctors in the bloodstream through injection. Chemotherapy locates the tumor by conjugation with the nanoparticles. In Zhou's study, laboratory work is not needed anymore. The molecules are administered directly, and the nanoparticles form themselves once they are in the blood. He called this particle Xuequan's molecule.
Xuequan's molecule is a palladium complex where the metallic core is made of palladium. Instead of being connected to four nitrogen atoms, Xuequan's molecule replaced two nitrogen atoms with carbon atoms. Green light irradiation allows the palladium complex to gain extra energy, which then causes the electrons to be transferred to the oxygen molecules already in the irradiated cells. This mechanism creates a reactive oxygen species, thereby killing cancer cells.
Zhou's anticancer phototherapy treatment was proven to be very effective. Ten percent of the administered drug arrives at the destination and reaches the tumor. Another advantage of Zhou's approach is that it saves doctors much work and preparation time.
Compared with the conventional treatment strategies, Xuequan's molecule is also safer and more effective. Some factors make nanotechnology complicated when applied to medical treatments. A mix of nanoparticles with different sizes is created and presented in the body with different properties. Since the composition of the mix is challenging to determine, experts are not 100% sure how they might behave once inside the body.
Using a molecule is more straightforward since the nanoparticles are all similar once injected into the blood. Our body also tends to process those molecules in the same way. The purity of the molecule can also be determined using chemical analysis.
READ ALSO: New Nanoparticles Designed for Cancer Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy
Minute Approach in Treating Cancer
Current cancer therapies are limited to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Conventional anti-cancer drug treatments usually do not differentiate between good and bad cells, killing them both. These methods risk normal tissues or lead only to incomplete disease eradication.
Nanotechnology offers a better means to target chemotherapies directly and selectively to cells that cause cancer. Nanotechnology cancer therapy is not limited to drug delivery, but it also extends to developing new treatments available only through nanomaterial properties.
Unlike microparticles, nanoparticles have large sizes to enclose many types of small molecule compounds. Because of their large surface area, nanoparticles can also be functionalized with ligands such as antibodies. Nanoparticles also possess other abilities, such as energy absorption and re-radiation, which can disrupt diseased tissue.
Despite the proven benefits of nanoparticles in cancer treatment, only a few nanomaterial-based therapies are currently used clinically, and further studies are needed to utilize their potential.
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