Tiny bubbles in our body to fight cancer better than chemo

The researchers found that tiny bubbles in our body could potentially be used to treat cancer and could better fight the disease than chemotherapy.

Healthy cells in our body release nano-sized bubbles that transfer genetic material such as DNA and RNA to other cells. It is your DNA that stores the important information needed for the production of proteins by the RNAs and ensures that they act accordingly.

According to the researchers, these extracellular bubble vesicles (EVs) could become mini-treatment transporters, featuring a combination of therapeutic drugs and genes that target and kill cancer cells.

The study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, focuses on breast cancer cells in mice.

"What we did, is to improve a therapeutic approach to deliver genes producing enzymes that can convert certain drugs into toxic agents and target tumors," said lead author Masamitsu. Kanada, assistant professor at Michigan State University.

These drugs or precursors are first and foremost inactive compounds. But once they metabolize themselves in the body, they are immediately activated and can effectively fight everything from cancer to headaches.

Aspirin is an example of a common prodrug.

In this case, the researchers used electric vehicles to deliver the gene producing enzymes that could activate a combination therapy of gediclovir and CB1954 with drug precursors in breast cancer cells.

Minicircle DNA and the regular plasmid – two different gene vectors that act as additional delivery mechanisms for DNA – have been loaded into the vesicles to determine the best way to facilitate transport processing.

This is known as a gene-driven enzyme, prodrug therapy.

They discovered that the minicircle's DNA was 14 times more effective at delivery and even more effective at killing cancerous tumors.

"Conventional chemotherapy does not differentiate tumors from normal tissues, so it attacks everything," said Kanada.

With electric vehicles, the treatment can be targeted and, because of its compatibility with the human body, this type of administration could minimize the risk of undesirable immune responses that may be associated with other gene therapies.

"If EVs prove effective in humans, it would be an ideal platform for gene delivery and it could be used in humans sooner than expected," added Kanada.