Nanoscience

Anti-cancer drugs can often shrink tumors but don’t kill cancer stem cells (CSCs). Although CSCs might only make up a small part of a tumor, their resistance to drugs allows them to persist. They can then cause a tumor to regrow or spread cancerous cells throughout the body. Xiaoming He and colleagues wanted to develop a nanoparticle system to overcome these cells’ defenses.

The researchers packaged the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin into nanoparticles coated with chitosan, a natural polysaccharide that can specifically target CSCs. Once in the acidic environment of the tumor, the nanoparticles degraded and released the drug. Tests on tiny, tissue-like clumps of both normal and cancer stem cells in vitro and on human breast tumors grown in mice showed the therapy successfully killed CSCs and destroyed tumors. The mice showed no obvious side effects.

The authors acknowledge funding from the American Cancer Society and Pelotonia.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Wei Rao, Hai Wang, Jianfeng Han, Shuting Zhao, Jenna Dumbleton, Pranay Agarwal, Wujie Zhang, Gang Zhao, Jianhua Yu, Debra L. Zynger, Xiongbin Lu, Xiaoming He. Chitosan-Decorated Doxorubicin-Encapsulated Nanoparticle Targets and Eliminates Tumor Reinitiating Cancer Stem-like Cells. ACS Nano, 2015; 150529083600004 DOI:10.1021/nn506928p

American Chemical Society. (2015, June 10). Nanoparticles target and kill cancer stem cells that drive tumor growth. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 17, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150610111131.htm