Tumor-targeting nanoparticles loaded with a drug that makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy’s toxicity could be used to treat an aggressive and often deadly form of endometrial cancer, according to new research by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy.

For the first time, researchers combined traditional chemotherapy with a relatively new cancer drug that attacks chemo-resistant tumor cells, loaded both into tiny nanoparticles, and created an extremely selective and lethal cancer treatment. Results of the three-year lab study were published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The new treatment could mean improved survival rates for the roughly 6,000 U.S. women diagnosed with type II endometrial cancer every year and also represents an important step in the development of targeted cancer therapies. In contrast to chemotherapy, the current standard in cancer treatment that exposes the entire body to anti-cancer drugs, targeted treatments deliver drugs directly to the tumor site, thereby protecting healthy tissue and organs and enhancing drug efficacy.

“In this particular study, we took on one of the biggest challenges in cancer research, which is tumor targeting,” said Kareem Ebeid, a UI pharmacy science graduate student and lead researcher on the study. “And for the first time, we were able to combine two different tumor-targeting strategies and use them to defeat deadly type II endometrial cancer. We believe this treatment could be used to fight other cancers, as well.”

Image Credit:  Kareem Ebeid/UI College of Pharmacy

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