JERUSALEM, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from Israel, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands have developed an innovative technology to enable co-delivery of two different drugs to the tumor site, Tel Aviv University said in a statement on Sunday.
Cancer treatments often involve combining drugs to enhance therapeutic efficacy. However, differences in drug properties such as degradation rates, circulation times, and tumor penetration can prevent them from reaching the tumor together, limiting their combined efficacy.
To maximize efficacy and minimize toxicity, the researchers developed a new platform that delivers two drugs simultaneously and selectively to the tumor site without harming healthy organs.
The method, described in the journal Science Advances, uses polymeric nanoparticles to deliver drug pairs for treating specific cancers, including skin and breast cancer. These biodegradable nanoparticles can encapsulate two drugs to enhance their activity.
The research team tested the platform with two drug pairs for skin and breast cancer on 3D cancer cell models and animal models and found that the nanoparticles accumulated selectively in primary tumors without harming healthy tissues and successfully penetrated the blood-brain barrier, reaching brain metastases with precision.
The simultaneous delivery of both drugs is far more effective than administering them separately, significantly reducing tumor size and improving laboratory mice's lifespan.
The researchers concluded that this versatile platform can transport various drug pairs that enhance each other's effects, improving treatment for primary tumors and metastases expressing the P-selectin protein.
