I've written before about nanotechnology: the use of really, really (really) tiny particles injected into cancer patientts for various reasons in an attempt to kill off cancer cells. (I still really like the one that uses gold particles. You'll have to look that one up in the Lympho Bob archives if you want more information).
One very promising use of nanotechnology that I've read (and written) about has been different attempts to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells. It works kind of like RadioImmunoTherapy: the tiny little nanoparticles are coated with or otherwise contain the chemo drug, and are developed to seek out and attach to the cancer cells and deliver their payload. This way, the chemo isn't just released and allowed to kill off healthy cells, too: the nanoparticle is only delivered to the cancer cells. In theory, this means less toxicity, fewer side effects, greater effectiveness.
As far as I know, there isn't a delivery system like this that has been approved yet, at least not for NHL. But already, some researchers are finding ways to improve upon the models that are bouncing around out there. Science Daily reports on some smart people in new Mexico who have redesigned the nanoparticles into honeycomb shapes, which allow for more chemo drugs to be stored in the crevices. (Imagine it as a kind of nightmarish English Muffin, but instead of nooks and crannies holding melted butter, they hold cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and doxorubicin. Which is kind of funny, in a sick way, if you think about it. You'd need rubber gloves just to eat breakfast.)
Anyway, the Science Daily article is called "Nanoparticles With Honeycomb Cavities Containing Drugs Blast Cancer Cells," and it describes how all of this would work. The nanoparticle would have an increased surface area with all of those crevices, and when that's combined with a better way of attracting cancer cells, the result is what they call a "million-fold improvement in efficiency" over other methods that do something similar, but without the nanoparticles.
You can read more about the details in the article. It's still being tested in cells, and will soon be tested on mice, and may be ready for commercial use in as few as 5 years. Nothing in there about lymphoma, specifically, but it certainly seems like the kind of approach that would work well for a systemic cancer like lymphoma, where the cells need to be hunted down in the blood.
One very promising use of nanotechnology that I've read (and written) about has been different attempts to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells. It works kind of like RadioImmunoTherapy: the tiny little nanoparticles are coated with or otherwise contain the chemo drug, and are developed to seek out and attach to the cancer cells and deliver their payload. This way, the chemo isn't just released and allowed to kill off healthy cells, too: the nanoparticle is only delivered to the cancer cells. In theory, this means less toxicity, fewer side effects, greater effectiveness.
As far as I know, there isn't a delivery system like this that has been approved yet, at least not for NHL. But already, some researchers are finding ways to improve upon the models that are bouncing around out there. Science Daily reports on some smart people in new Mexico who have redesigned the nanoparticles into honeycomb shapes, which allow for more chemo drugs to be stored in the crevices. (Imagine it as a kind of nightmarish English Muffin, but instead of nooks and crannies holding melted butter, they hold cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and doxorubicin. Which is kind of funny, in a sick way, if you think about it. You'd need rubber gloves just to eat breakfast.)
Anyway, the Science Daily article is called "Nanoparticles With Honeycomb Cavities Containing Drugs Blast Cancer Cells," and it describes how all of this would work. The nanoparticle would have an increased surface area with all of those crevices, and when that's combined with a better way of attracting cancer cells, the result is what they call a "million-fold improvement in efficiency" over other methods that do something similar, but without the nanoparticles.
You can read more about the details in the article. It's still being tested in cells, and will soon be tested on mice, and may be ready for commercial use in as few as 5 years. Nothing in there about lymphoma, specifically, but it certainly seems like the kind of approach that would work well for a systemic cancer like lymphoma, where the cells need to be hunted down in the blood.
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