Recent research suggests that nanotechnologies may lead to the development of novel cancer treatment. Gold nanoparticles with their unique physical and chemical properties hold great hopes for the development of thermal-based therapies against human malignancies. This review will focus on various strategies that have been developed to use gold nanoparticles as photothermal agents against human cancers.
Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissues of your pancreas — an organ in your abdomen that lies horizontally behind the lower part of your stomach. Your pancreas secretes enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help regulate the metabolism of sugars.
Pancreatic cancer often has a poor prognosis, even when diagnosed early. Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly and is seldom detected in its early stages, which is a major reason why it’s a leading cause of cancer death. Signs and symptoms may not appear until pancreatic cancer is quite advanced and complete surgical removal isn’t possible.
Gold nanoparticles have the potential to supplement chemotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer patients, a new study suggests.
Pancreatic cancer is among the deadliest forms of cancer, and is highly resistant to both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However, research led by scientists at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center suggests gold nanoparticles can help make existing treatments more effective.
In their experiment involving pancreatic cancer cells and pancreatic stellate cells in a mouse model, the researchers demonstrated that tiny gold particles can be used as a vehicle to carry chemotherapy drug molecules into tumors, or as a target to enhance radiation treatment on tumors.
The study builds on previous research led by Piryabrata Mukherjee, who found during an examination of ovarian cancer in mice that gold nanoparticles can limit tumor growth. The latest study revealed parallels with pancreatic cancer. The gold nanoparticles were able to disrupt cellular communication in the area surrounding the tumors without harming normal cells. The results were published in ACS NANO, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
Gold nanoparticles mediated thermal ablation of tumors following exposure to NIR light is superior to conventional techniques, since is minimally invasive and easy to apply, with great capacity to destroy malignant lesions in vital regions where surgical resection is not feasible. Radiofrequency techniques or other thermally destructive methods cannot differentiate between tumor and surrounding normal tissue, often affecting the healthy tissue as well. Photothermal therapy employing gold nanoparticles (irradiated with near-infrared laser that excites electrons of different atomic levels and sub-levels to ground state by emitting the energy in the form heat) can destroy cancerous cells and is able to produce selective necrosis at cellular levels.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas don’t respond well to chemo or radiation therapy, and the altered tumor microenvironment created by pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs) and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) is thought to be a big reason why this cancer is so difficult to get under control. Being able to interfere with the chemical communication between the PCCs and PSCs may go a long way toward changing the prognosis for pancreatic cancer patients.
The research team showed that gold nanoparticles, when introduced into the pancreatic tumor environment, modify the cell secretome of PCCs and PSCs. Specifically, reporting in journal ACS Nano, the investigators state that gold nanoparticles “impair secretions of major hub node proteins in both cell types and transform activated PSCs toward a lipid-rich quiescent phenotype.”
Inactivating many of the PSCs led to significantly reduced tumor growth in laboratory mice thanks to a radically changed tumor microenvironment.
