Improved Anti-Cancer Therapies Through Combination Drug Design and Drug Delivery

Improved Anti-Cancer Therapies Through Combination Drug Design and Drug Delivery

Traditional chemotherapies target rapidly developing cells in the human body, resulting in harsh side effects from the destruction of healthy cells alongside of the cancer cells. In order to minimize these side effects drugs were designed to more specifically interact with cancer cells compared to normal cells. The new drugs were developed by rationally modifying the natural product mithramycin and their anticancer abilities were investigated with nonsmall cell lung cancer cells. Additionally, delivery systems to deliver the therapies only to the tumor tissue can further diminish the negative side effects of the drugs while improving treatment outcomes. Gold nanoparticles were used as the basis for the delivery vehicle as they are biologically inert, relatively easy to modify the surface to load the drugs, and heat upon the absorption of near-infrared light which will trigger the release of the drugs. The gold nanoparticles were functionalized with DNA to bind the cancer drugs and irradiated with near infrared light to trigger the release of drugs from the surface of the nanoparticles at desired intervals. In combination, the new drugs and delivery systems will reduce interactions of the drugs with normal cells to reduce side effects and improve the therapeutic outcomes.