New Nanomaterial Could Improve Therapeutics and Imaging in Cancer Treatment

Scientists from UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute and Korea’s Yonsei University have developed an innovative method that enables nanomachines to release drugs inside living cancer cells when activated remotely by an oscillating magnetic field. The new system has the potential to improve both targeted drug-delivery and magnetic resonance imaging in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The research appears in the July issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In recent years, cancer research has increasingly focused on developing therapies that, unlike chemotherapy, target only cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. To that end, scientists have created nanomachines that can trap and release drug molecules from pores directly into individual cancer cells in response to a stimulus.

The new method, developed by the research groups of Jeffrey Zink, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Jinwoo Cheon, a professor of chemistry at Korea’s Yonsei University, uses a material that combines a framework of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with magnetic zinc-doped iron oxide nanocrystals, along with attached nanovalves that help hold drug molecules in the pores. When a magnetic-field stimulus is applied, the valves open and release the drug molecules from the pores into the target cells.

“The hydrophobic nature of the interior of the pores, as well as the ability to functionalise the silica surface with hydrophilic functionalities, makes these particles attractive for anti-cancer drug delivery,” Zink said. “Adding a magnetic core to the silica-based nanoparticles is of interest for its potential applications in magnetic resonance imaging, as addition of the magnetic core may make it useful as a contrast agent. ”

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Source: UCLA

Tags: California NanoSystems Institute, cancer treatment, UCLA, Yonsei University