Researchers at Florida International University (FIU) have developed a novel approach to treating ovarian cancer that employs nanoparticles in combination with a magnetic field to target cancer cells while leaving nearby healthy cells untouched.
In research published in the journal Scientific Reports (“Magneto-electric Nanoparticles to Enable Field-controlled High-Specificity Drug Delivery to Eradicate Ovarian Cancer Cells”), the FIU team demonstrated how the so-called magneto-electric nanoparticles (MENs) enable the chemotherapy drug, Taxol, to completely eradicate a tumor within 24 hours while leaving the healthy ovarian cells intact.
“Sparing healthy cells has been a major challenge in the treatment of cancer, especially with the use of Taxol; so in addition to treating the cancer, this could have a huge impact on side-effects and toxicity,” said Carolyn Runowicz, M.D., professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at FIU, in a press release.
While the use of various nanoparticles for delivering drugs to specific targets in the body has been with us for a decade now and has already created a billion-dollar industry for itself, this marks the first time that these MENs nanoparticles have been used in this kind of therapy.