Innovations in Cancer Therapy via Specialized Nanoparticles

Purdue University (Indiana, USA) researchers have developed a concept to potentially improve delivery of drugs for cancer treatment using nanoparticles that concentrate and expand in the presence of higher acidity found in tumor cells.  The concept involves using nanoparticles made of "weak polybases," compounds that expand when transported into environments mimicking tumor cells, which have a higher acidity than surrounding tissues – a concept that the researchers term “pH phoresis.” You-Yeon Won and colleagues utilized sophisticated modeling to show how the particles would accumulate in regions of higher acidity and remain there long enough to delivery anticancer drugs.  The pH phoresis concept hinges on using synthetic "polymer micelles," tiny drug-delivery spheres that harbor medications in their inner core and contain an outer shell made of a material that has been shown to expand dramatically as the pH changes from alkaline to acidic. A twofold size increase could result in a similar increase in the efficiency of drug delivery to tumors. The study authors are hopeful that: “pH phoresis may provide a useful mechanism for improving the delivery of drugs to cancer cells in solid tumor tissues.”