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Nanotechnology breast cancer study receives major funding |
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Oct 08, 2009 at 01:38 PM |
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A new award "Hybrid nanotechnologies for detection and synergistic therapies for breast cancer" worth $2.8 million has been made available by the US Department of Defense and awarded to Professor Errki Ruoslahti of the University of California Santa Barbara's Burnham Institute for Medical Research. The award is part of the Breast Cancer Research Program, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Other collaborators in the programme will be Professor Roger Tsien of the University of California San Diego and Professor Shiladitya Sengupta of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, who will each receive their own awards. Professor Ruoslahti said "The prevalence of breast cancer and the large number of deaths from this disease underscore the need for a paradigm shift in the strategies toward developing a cure for breast cancer," said Ruoslahti. "The traditional first line approach still relies on surgery with chemotherapy for late stage or palliative effect. However, this regimen often fails to eradicate the disease, leading to recurrence and drug-induced side effects that adversely affect quality of life. We envision that the cure for breast cancer can be achieved by strategically integrating early detection with synergistic therapies. We believe that nanotechnology-based engineering solutions can provide the needed changes to drastically improve the cure rates." University of California Santa Barbara press release Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Lecithin nanoparticles show promise as vaccine adjuvant |
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Sep 29, 2009 at 10:37 AM |
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A team at Oregon State University has developed a new adjuvant, a substance that can increased the immune response when used in combination with a vaccine, based on lecithin nanoparticles. Currently only one adjuvant, aluminium hydroxide (alum), is approved for human use in the US because of safety concerns and is comparatively weak as well as only working with certain diseases. The new adjuvant produced an immune response more than six times stronger than alum in animal models as well as requiring only one injection, rather than the usual two or more. While clinical studies have yet to be carried out, the researchers also believe the lecithin nanoparticle adjuvant could have a good safety profile (lecithin is used widely as a food product and is considered non-toxic) and that it could have wide potential applications such as in developing vaccines against tumours and some viruses for which alum adjuvants do not work well. Journal of Controlled Release abstract Source: Nanowerk Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Albumin nanospheres shape up for cancer isotope delivery |
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Sep 28, 2009 at 04:28 PM |
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 Researchers at the "Horia Hulubei" National Institute of R&D for Physics and Nuclear Engineering in Bucharest, Romania have developed a way to deliver radioactive isotopes to the site of tumours using nanospheres of albumin, a protein found in the blood. The team, led by Dr. Virginia Borza, used human serum albumin nanospheres labelled with rhenium-188. This radionuclide emits beta particles and has a short half-life and, by targeting the isotope using the albumin nanosheres, could potentially deliver a high therapeutic dose of radiation to a tumour without damage to other tissues. The researchers have established optimal parameters for making the labelled nanospheres and now hope to be able to move on to preclinical studies to determine how well the particles can target tumour cells and how therapeutic efficacy could be improved. Abstract Source: Nanowerk Write Comment (0 comments) |
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