Transcript
Introduction
Cancer sucks. It’s just that simple. According to the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, an estimated 18.1 million cancer cases were present worldwide in 2020. For such a prevalent disease, it is shocking to think there is no cure. Popular treatment methods including radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery are able to slow the cancer’s progression for a short amount of time, but they usually leave patients in degraded physical conditions. Due to these circumstances, scientists have resorted to nanotechnology to develop new cancer detection and treatment methods.
According to scientists Singh and Nehru, conventional methods of cancer detection are very sensitive and may only detect cancer after significant tumor growth, at which time the cancer has progressed to a stage that may be untreatable. Hence, early detection and treatment before the growth and spread of tumors is a priority for oncologists and cancer researchers. In 2017, scientists at Rutgers University created light-emitting nanoparticles that can accurately detect cancer which increases the potential of targeted therapy in cancer treatment (Rutgers 2017).
Research Overview
In a similar manner, scientists from the University of Texas and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston published a study in 2016 in which they used a nanodelivery complex to combat genitourinary cancers (Siefker-Radtke A et al.). Genitourinary cancer can be defined as cancer of the “urinary system of men and women and the reproductive organs in men” (UMMC).
The context for the scientists’ research is the lack of a systemic delivery system; RB94 is a protein complex which consists of proteins noted with a significant ability to treat cancerous genitourinary tumors. In two previous studies conducted by Xu et al. in both 1994 and 1996, the marked cytotoxicity of the RB94 against all tumor cell lines was found to be the most significant result. The scientists in this study were responding to the previous knowledge of the RB94’s protein capabilities and the efficacy of the nanodelivery complex to combine them into one treatment method for multifocal cancer.
Methods/Results
The scientists hypothesized that this new nanodelivery system would be effective in treating genitourinary cancers. Due to the lack of a systemic delivery system, scientists from SynerGene Therapeutics developed a tumor-targeted complex for systemic gene delivery (Xu et al. 2002, Yu et al. 2003, Pirollo 2008). The gene delivery system was coated with anti-transferrin protein (TfR) which allows RB94 to bind with the TfR that is highly expressed on tumor cells. This study is focused on metastatic bladder cancer due to the high levels of TfR present in genitourinary tumors. The nanocomplex encapsulated the p53 gene which when administered to tumor cells, sensitizes them to radiation and chemotherapy. The subjects of the study were selected based on existing cancer presence: 13 previously treated patients with metastatic incurable genitourinary cancers. Of the 13 subjects, 11 were considered the experimental group while the other 2 subjects had unintentionally been administered less biologically active SGT-94 and were considered the control group. The dose of the administrated protein varied for each subject between 0.6, 1.2, and 2.4mg DNA.
Patients treated at all DNA levels demonstrated stable disease after 4 cycles of treatment. At the 2.4mg DNA level, one subject had a complete remission of a lung metastasis and an additional partial response upon retreatment when new tumors arose in a different location. A second subject treated at this dose level also displayed a partial response with 85% reduction in tumor size. Stable disease was produced in a third subject treated at the 2.4mg DNA dose level. In subjects treated at the 0.6 or 1.2mg DNA dose levels, only one stable disease and no partial or complete response was observed. Additionally, the RB94 protein expression was documented in both tumors as opposed to its absence in the normal lung, and there were traces of cancer cell death due to the delivery of RB94 into the tumor cells. The main conclusion of this study was that SGT-94, the tumor-targeted nanodelivery complex, displayed a statistically significant ability to selectively target tumors in addition to evidence of clinical activity. This finding is valuable for this research because this shows how nanodelivery of cancer drugs can be potentially successful in the oncology field. This is a big discovery in cancer research because this finding can possibly reduce tumor size as well as improve cancer treatment.
The scientists themselves did not admit any flaws in their study, however the main flaw in this study was its sample size; increasing the sample size would yield more credible results. Another major flaw in this study is the lack of a legitimate control group which is critical for comparison against the experimental group. This control group can include a group of similar patients who only undergo standard treatment. This might be the most viable option because in this case, the control group could simply be patients who are already being treated with conventional cancer treatments.
One controversy that arises from this research is that of the high mutation rate of cancer cells; it is very difficult to generalize treatments to all types of cancer, so a prominent controversy is whether there can be one individual type of treatment that can treat all cancers the same way. Another controversy is about the ability of nanoparticles/nanotreatments’ to differentiate between normal cells and cancerous tumor cells. Other general concerns include controversies about technology and financial controversies.
The ethical problems that seem to arise when talking about this topic are related mostly to the ethical problems of experimental procedures. For example, the ethics of performing clinical trials on animals and/or humans are very significant as living beings are being used and at risk for the sake of experimentation. Other general concerns include genetic modification concerns, environmental concerns, and problems that may arise due to the low predictability of cancerous substances.
The information from this specific study is important because the study takes a new technology and applies it to cancer treatment. Cancer, known as one of the world’s leading killers, is a burden on all cancer patients, their families, doctors, and scientists who spend years upon years trying to find a cure. The larger implications of this study are that this research may be the beginning of a new era in cancer research in which scientists use nanotechnology and targeted drug delivery complexes to fight and potentially cure cancer. Additionally, this method of cancer treatment can also be administered without the negative consequences of treatment methods including chemotherapy and radiation. Though it is difficult to determine whether this treatment would be effective in treating genitourinary cancer or other types of cancers, it is definitely a step in the right direction. The success of such methods can also mean ramifications for treatment of other illnesses beyond cancer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, cancer continues to puzzle scientists in terms of its mechanisms and its effects on living organisms. Nanotechnology is becoming especially attractive to scientists as they continue to search for new treatment methods and cures for mankind’s toughest biological challenge. The study conducted by Siefker-Radtke et al. regarding nanodelivery complexes in genitourinary cancer treatment is a step in the right direction for all oncologists and cancer researchers. The statistically significant results using the SGT-94 nanodelivery complex in this study present hope for all of the world in the battle against cancer. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other forms of oncology treatment that degrade patients’ physical states can easily be replaced with nanotechnology that can more effectively treat cancerous tumors. If nanotechnology is continually used in oncology research and cancer treatment, we might be looking at a cure, or at the least, improved treatment, in the near future.
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