A team of researchers from Michigan State University and Stanford University conducted a new study that was recently published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. The research suggests that healthy cells in the human body release nano-sized bubbles that could serve as a channel to transfer genetic material.
Genetic materials include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Referencing previous studies, DNA stores important information that is essential for RNA to produce proteins.
According to the scientists behind the research, the said bubbly extracellular vesicles can be used to transport treatment including a combination of therapeutic drugs and genes. The transported treatment could be used to specifically target cancer cells.
Masamitsu Kanada, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering of MSU, stated that their research had improved the therapeutic approach to delivering enzyme produced in genes which can convert certain drugs into toxic agents. This process could lead to breaking down tumors.
When drugs or prodrugs start to metabolize in the body, it is immediately activated from being inactive compounds to compounds that can fight a wide array of ailments such as headaches or even cancer.
For this research, the extracellular vesicles (EV) were used to deliver enzyme-producing genes that could activate ganciclovir and CB1954. The prodrug combination therapy was used on breast cancer cells in mice.
The results of the research revealed that the minicircle DNA rated 14 times more effective at the delivery of the cure and even more successful at breaking down and killing the cancerous tumors.
Kanada is optimistic that their research and the new approach that they have developed could later be adapted in the medical field as a better cancer treatment option, later adding that it could be preferred over chemotherapy in the long run.
Kanada explains that conventional chemotherapy entails attacking both normal tissue and tumors, causing severe side effects and in some cases, an insufficient concentration of the chemotherapy drug on tumors. The research author later pointed out that with the use of EV's, treatment can be targeted and could lower the risk for unwanted immune responses of the body.
Kanada's next step is to carry out a phase 1 clinical trial which is set to start soon in the US. For the said upcoming clinical trial, his team of scientists will be using EV's and a type of therapeutic RNA molecule in treating metastatic pancreatic cancer. Kanada stated that successfully proving EV's could be effectively and safely used for humans opens new doors in healthcare.
