DNA delivers anti-cancer drug

November 7, 2005

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Nanotechnologies that tap DNA have heated up lately, especially in the drug delivery field.

Researchers from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have reported the latest in a string of nanotech advances to fight cancer. The anti-cancer therapy combines polymer nanoparticles that contain an anti-cancer drug with short strands of DNA or RNA that bind to a protein found on the outside of prostate cancer cells.

The polymer is biocompatible and breaks down over a controllable amount of time to release the drug. The researchers tested the nanoparticle-DNA treatment on prostate cancer cells inside a microfluidic device designed to mimic conditions inside the body. They found that the anti-cancer drug was taken in by the cancer cells but not by surrounding healthy cells.

Other scientists have recently made RNA nanoparticles that deliver anti-cancer drugs to cancer cells, DNA-polystyrene spheres that could be used for drug delivery, and polymer nanoparticles that contain an anti-cancer drug and folic acid, which is readily absorbed by cancer cells.

Technology Research News: www.trnmag.com