Many cancer drugs are highly effective at killing cancer cells in laboratory settings, but are less effective once they enter the human body. Often, the challenge is not the drug itself; it is the effectiveness of how the drug is delivered, whether enough of the drug reaches the right place at the right time, or whether too much is delivered to the wrong place at the wrong time.
One potential solution lies in the use of biomaterials to improve drug delivery. Ting-Yu Shih, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, is working to enhance the safety and effectiveness of cancer treatments using biomaterials-based targeted therapies.
By using biomaterials such as lipids, peptides, polymers and proteins to encapsulate medications, Shih’s approach helps guide therapies directly to tumors while reducing unintended effects elsewhere in the body. These materials act as protective carriers, allowing drugs to better reach and adhere to cancer cells while avoiding early detection by the immune system.
“Certainly, we can make better drugs, but our hypothesis is that it’s a delivery problem,” Shih said. “Biomaterials are a way to help us improve drug delivery. We essentially load the drug in a natural biological packaging, similar to a capsule, but at a microscopic level. The goal is to design the appropriate biomaterial as a delivery system to deliver the drug to the right place at the right time.”
“The immune system has a memory, so even if some tumor cells survive the initial treatment, it can continue to be mobilized to eliminate those cells; you will still have immune protection. It’s a way to attack and eliminate cancer cells.”Ting-Yu Shih, Ph.D.
Encapsulation can help shield drugs from the immune system, preventing them from being cleared from the body before reaching their destination. These delivery systems can also be engineered to control sustained release of the drug, similar to time-release medications, increasing the drug’s circulation time in the body and lessening the frequency a patient has to take a pill or go to a hospital to receive an injection.
“We can provide the right dose at the right time so we have good efficacy without causing toxicity,” Shih said.
To further improve targeting, Shih’s team is designing delivery systems that recognize specific features on tumor cells. Cancer cells often have proteins and sugars that are overexpressed on their surfaces compared with normal cells.
By coating delivery systems with targeting molecules, often antibodies, the therapies can bind more effectively to tumor cells and deliver medication directly where it is needed most.
Those proteins and sugars can also be used to introduce a training system for the immune system, using RNA technology as a cancer immunotherapy. Shih is incorporating RNA-based technology to help the body recognize and attack cancer cells. By introducing RNA that targets tumor-specific proteins, the immune system can be primed to generate a more precise and lasting response.
“Cancer cells have a way to evolve and evade immune responses, so the potential to eliminate tumors and prevent recurrence is very difficult to achieve with traditional chemotherapy. With this system, we can potentially completely eliminate the tumor,” Shih said.
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