Nano Carriers for Drugs

One of the great unknowns about cancer is how metastasized cells, sometimes, can develop drug resistance, making for a very grim prognosis.  Researchers at the University of Tokyo under the leadership of Samir Mitragotri have sought to get around this problem by making a soapy clump of nanoparticles called “micelles” that carry an anticancer drug inside.  Instead of hitting a receptor on the cell’s surface, these micelles, resembling nutrients, enter by endocytosis.  Then, as these nano-Trojan horses move toward the increasingly acidic intracellular location of the nucleus, the micelles dissolve and release their chemical cargo close to the chromosomes, where it can do the most damage.  So far, this has had positive results in animal tests.    MORE

Image Credit:   Science Translational Medicine and Technology Review