Silica Nanoparticles Adapted to Deliver Water-Insoluble Cancer Drugs

Cancer researchers have found a way to administer hydrophobic chemotherapeutic drugs that does not require dissolving the medication in toxic solvents.

Investigators at the Jonsson Cancer Center (Los Angeles, CA, USA) used the pores of fluorescent mesoporous (i.e., containing pores with diameters between 2 and 50 nm) silica nanoparticles to sequester the hydrophobic anticancer drug camptothecin (CPT). This drug and its derivatives are considered to be among the most effective of the currently available anticancer drugs. Although studies have demonstrated their effectiveness against a number of different types of cancer cells in vitro, clinical application of CPT in humans has only been carried out with derivatives that have improved water solubility.

Results published in the June 2007 issue of the journal Small showed that silica nanoparticles containing CPT were taken up by cancer cells, which then began to die. "In order to be used on humans, current cancer therapies such as CPT or Taxol, which are poorly water-soluble, must be mixed with organic solvents in order to be delivered into the body,” said senior author Dr. Fuyuhiko Tamanoi, professor of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics at the Jonsson Cancer Center. "These elements produce toxic side effects and in fact decrease the potency of the cancer therapy. Silica nanomaterials show promise for delivering camptothecin and other water-insoluble drugs. We have successfully loaded hydrophobic anticancer drugs into mesoporous nanoparticles and delivered them into human cancer cells to induce cell death.”


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Jonsson Cancer Center