Nanoparticles for Selective Cancer: Scientists Explore To Enhance Nanomaterials for Potential Treatment, Prevention of the Serious Illness

PhD researcher Laura Woythe recently took a closer look at nanoparticles and cancer cells to develop selective nanotherapeutics employing advanced optical microscopy methods.

As specified in a Phys.org report, nanoparticles can be used as powerful vehicles to provide vaccines and stop severe illness, as with the COVID-19 treatment, as well as to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer cells with an objective of eliminating the cancer cells "and leaving the healthy cells unharmed."

For cancer patients, this has the possibility of decreasing serious side effects originating from the toxicity of chemotherapeutics.

Regrettably, no clinically used selective nanoparticle therapeutic, also called nanotherapeutic, exists yet with a study that focuses on improving and understanding current nanotherapeutics.

Enhancing Nanoparticles To Target Cancer Cells

To enhance the ability of nanoparticles to target cancer cells, researchers can exploit how nanoparticles are interacting with specific cell biomarkers or receptors on the cells' surface.

For this purpose, the so-called "ligands" or molecules that recognize particular cell receptors are placed on the nanoparticles' surface.

Nonetheless, this particular functionalization process is difficult to regulate because of the tiny size of the nanoparticles, causing some molecules to be misplaced, function inappropriately, or be poorly attached to the surface of nanoparticles.

All of these are reducing the capacity of a nanoparticle to interact with cancer cells in an intentional manner.

Moreover, the question of such attachment protocols' efficacy remains. The question on whether the number of molecules the researchers are attaching is efficient enough to target cancer cells also remains.

Advanced Optical Microscopy Strategies

The problems lie in the tiny molecule size and cell receptors, as well as the limited quantitative approaches that exist to approximate the number of molecules on the nanoparticles' surface.

The question now on how scientists can count the number of molecules on the nanoparticles' surface in order to check that they can be effective against cancer cells arises.

In a study published in ACS Nano, Woythe examined the functionality of molecules that are attached to nanoparticles for selective cancer targeting by employing advanced optical microscopy strategies or "super-resolution" optical microscopy.

Essentially, super-resolution microscopy encompasses a group of microscopy methods that have a resolution power, 10 times higher than traditional optical microscopy.

More Effective Nanotherapeutic Delivery

The super-resolution microscopy allows for the "visualization of nanometric structures" like nanoparticles and cell receptors in a 10-to-100-nanometer range, a similar TU/e report specified.

Such a range is equivalent to the visualization of structures up to 5,000 times smaller than the hair of humans.

Utilizing super-resolution microscopy, Woythe, together with her colleagues, was able to count individual ligands on receptors and nanoparticles on cancer cells, therefore allowing for the finetuning of the targeting interaction.

Such figures can go a long way towards the development of more effective nanotherapeutic delivery. The study of Woythe is an essential step toward a better insight into nanomaterials for biomedical applications, particularly selective cell targeting of cancer cells and diseased cells minus affecting healthy tissue, and therefore, minimizing the probable side effects and the burden this is cause to cancer patients.

Related information about nanotechnology for targeted cancer treatment is shown on FGRGAnimation's YouTube video below:

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