10-09 :: September 2010

nanotimes News in Brief

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“Everyone said you can‘t use arsenic for solid tumors,” said O‘Halloran, also associate director of basic sci- ences at the Lurie Cancer Center. “That‘s because they didn‘t deliver it the right way. This new technology delivered the drug directly to the tumor, maintained its stability and shielded normal cells from the toxicity. That‘s huge.”

The nanoparticle technology has great potential for other existing cancer drugs that have been shelved be- cause they are too toxic or excreted too rapidly, Cryns noted. “We can potentially make those drugs more effective against solid tumors by increasing their delivery to the tumor and by shielding normal cells from their toxicity,” he said. “This nanotechnology platform has the potential to expand our arsenal of chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer.”

Richard W. Ahn, Feng Chen, Haimei Chen, Stephan T. Stern, Jeffrey D. Clogston, Anil K. Patri, Meera R. Raja, Elden P. Swin- dell, Vamsi Parimi, Vincent L. Cryns, and Thomas V. O‘Halloran: A Novel Nanoparticulate Formulation of Arsenic Trioxide with Enhanced Therapeutic Efficacy in a Murine Model of Breast Cancer, In: Clinical Cancer Research, Vol. 16 (2010), No. 14, July 15, 2010, Pages 3607-3617, DOI:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-0068: http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-0068

Transmission electron micrograph shows 100 nm lipid vesicles that contain a highly concentrated complex of arsenic trioxide (> 270 mmol/L). This nanoparticulate formulation (termed “nanobin”) markedly improves the pharmacokinetics of the cytotoxic agent, resulting in enhanced antitumor efficacy in a murine model of breast cancer. Nanobin encapsulation of arsenic trioxide may increase its therapeutic utility in breast cancer and potentially other solid tumors. © Clinical Cancer Research