New cancer treatment targets sick cells only

The scientists at Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM) and Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) have developed a technique that uses silica nanoparticles to carry curcumin, a candidate drug against prostate cancer, the type of cancer the study has looked into. The particles were coated with folate, a vitamin that is naturally drawn to tumor cells.

The outcome of the study so far has been quite impressive. During in vitro tests, the nanoparticles killed around 70 percent of prostate tumor cells while only 10 percent of healthy cells of the same lineage were hit.

"Thanks to their unique metabolism, the tumor cells has 200 times more folate receptors on their surface than healthy ones. This way, nanoparticles coated with this chemical structure dodge the cells that don't need to be attacked and are drawn to their real targets, which receive chemicals in higher concentration," said Mateus Borba Cardoso, who leads the research.

Silica and folate were chosen because they solve the difficulty that certain insoluble drugs have when they are transported in water, biological fluids and blood. The researchers then devised a way to insert the drugs in the pores of the silica nanoparticles during the formation of the compound. Drug molecules tend to settle between the pores as these are a more stable environment than the solution in which they are dispersed.