Hybrid Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy

Date: 03/16/2007
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: 310 Behrakis Hall
Speaker: Dr. Shiladitya Sengupta, Assistant Professor, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard-MIT Division of Heath Sciences and Technology

We approach nanotechnology as a tool to solve problems in medicine. We use the understanding of a disease to design hybrid nanotechnology platforms. Currently, we are working on a new concept, a ‘nanocell’, that enables the spatiotemporal therapy against complex diseases such as cancer. The nanocell comprises a nuclear nanoparticle within an extranuclear pegylated-lipid envelope, and is preferentially taken up by the tumour. The nanocell enables a temporal release of two drugs: the outer envelope first releases an anti-angiogenesis agent, causing a vascular shutdown; the inner nanoparticle, which is trapped inside the tumour, then releases a chemotherapy agent. This focal release within a tumour results in improved therapeutic index with reduced toxicity. The technology can be extended to additional agents, so as to target multiple signalling pathways or distinct tumour compartments, enabling the model of an ‘integrative’ approach in cancer therapy.