The mothership circulates through the bloodstream, homing in on the unique molecular signature of a cancerous tumor. The first mission is reconnaissance, and when it finds the target, the mothership releases a wave of nanosensors that scout out the tumor, characterizing its size and shape. The nanosensors also reveal detailed information about the cancer cells, giving clues to how they became cancerous and how they can best be treated. The mothership then attacks, unleashing toxic drugs encased in nanoparticles, which specifically poison the cancer cells while leaving the surrounding healthy tissue untouched. Finally, the mothership continues to monitor the tumor, revealing in hours whether or not the treatment was successful.
These “motherships,” also known as multi-compartment delivery vehicles, are just one of the visionary technologies presented at the New Developments in Nanotechnology in Cancer research conference held Oct. 25 in La Jolla, and hosted by the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, part of the National Cancer Institute. Six researchers and policy makers discussed the potential of nanotechnology during the conference. Panel members included Dr. Anna D. Barker, deputy director of the National Cancer Institute; Thomas Kalil, special assistant to the chancellor for science and technology at UC Berkeley; Dr. Sam Gambhir, director of the Molecular Imaging Program and head of Nuclear Medicine at Stanford University; Dr. Sadik Esener, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSD; Dr. James Health, director of the California Nanosystems Institute and professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology; and Dr. Scott McNeil, director of the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory.
Although the motherships under development in Esener’s lab are only an idea at this point, other forms of nanotechnology are being tested right now to diagnose cancer in humans, and actually treat cancer in mice. Within five years, nanotechnology might lead to major improvements in diagnosing and treating cancer.
Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment. The word “nanotechnology” refers to technology that is measured in nanometers, one-billionth of a meter. Most nanodevices are around 50 to 200 nanometers wide. To put that in perspective, the period at the end of this sentence is about one million nanometers wide. A typical human cell is around 10,000 nanometers wide, meaning nanodevices are small enough that they can freely enter into human cells. This is what makes nanotechnology so promising: the ability to interact with the body one cell, one molecule at a time.
“Cancer is a disease that originates in the nanoworld, and nanotechnology provides us with a very selective tool to allow us to access the nanoworld,” Esener said.
Many cancers begin as tiny changes in the DNA of a few cells. Currently, doctors usually detect cancer after it grows large enough to start causing problems. Nanodevices, such as carbon nanowires, quantum dots and nanoscale cantilevers, will enable doctors to detect cancerous cells as soon they turn dangerous, before they can spread and cause major damage.
“Well before there’s any clinical signs, one can begin to see the disease using these technologies,” Heath said.
Current cancer treatments often involve medicinal drugs that are toxic to all the cells in the human body, but kill more cancer cells because they are growing and reproducing rapidly.
“Perhaps what is most promising is that nanotechnology opens up the use of many known drugs that cannot be used presently because of their toxic effects on other organs,” Esener said.
Nanotechnology will allow doctors to specifically target only the cancer cells and avoid the debilitating side effects that often accompany chemotherapy.
A major goal of nanotechnology is “personalized medicine.” Numerous different genetic predispositions and environmental stresses can cause cancer, meaning that each case of cancer is unique and each case progresses and responds differently to treatment. Nanosensors will give doctors the precision necessary to determine the exact cause of the cancer, and then design a treatment that will target exactly what went wrong.
“Nanotechnology has a significant role to play to help us improve the ability to diagnose cancer patients and manage them, including monitoring the response to therapeutics,” Gambhir said.
The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer was formed in 2004 and started funding research in 2005, with the goal of advancing nanotechnology as quickly and safely as possible.
“Nanotechnology has the potential, we believe, to facilitate the transition of molecular-based diagnostics and therapeutics into patients and, overall, accelerate progress in cancer treatment and ultimately prevention,” said NCI Deputy Director Barker.
Comprising academic researchers, clinicians, biotechnology companies and policy makers, the NCI Alliance is providing $144 million over five years in cross-disciplinary research in the areas of physics, engineering, biology and oncology. For more information, visit http://nano.cancer.gov.