Tiny bubbles in the human body could better fight cancer than chemotherapy

In recent years, many advances have been made in the world of cancer research, including: a point of artificial beauty that could warn you of cancer before the onset of symptoms, which can be used for early detection of cancer, and a light-emitting implant that can be used to "zap" tumors.

Now nNew research suggests that tiny bubbles that already exist in the human body could potentially be used to treat cancer and could work better than chemotherapy.

Masamitsu Kanada, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Health Sciences and Health Engineering Research Institute at Michigan State University, has improved a therapeutic approach for transmitting genes that can convert some drugs with toxic agents that can be used to target cancerous tumors.

Essentially, healthy cells in our bodies always produce "small bubbles" called extracellular vesicles (EVs) that transfer generic material such as your DNA to other cells. Canada believes that nanoparticles could also be used to transport therapeutic drugs and genes that target cancer cells. His work has recently been published in the American Association for Cancer Research.

The research was conducted through Michigan State University and Stanford University.

Medications start as inactive compounds when they are introduced into the body, but when they metabolize in the body, they are activated and can immediately begin to fight diseases such as cancer – or even simply relieve the pain caused by an ailment. of head.

The difference between this medicine and those currently on the market is simply the way the drugs are transported in your body. In the case of cancer, it has been proven that the "small bubble" method was 14 times more effective for administering drugs in mice and that it also was more successful in killing cancerous tumors.

"Conventional chemotherapy does not differentiate tumors from normal tissues, so it attacks everything," Kanada said in a statement. "This nonspecificity can cause severe side effects and insufficient concentration of the drug in tumors."

In the end, this method may help reduce the risk of adverse immune responses associated with other gene therapies.

A clinical trial of the method, distinct from Kanada's work, is expected to begin soon in the United States.

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