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Work is currently being done to find ways to safely move these new research tools into clinical practice. But there are already examples in clinical use that show the promise of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology has been used to create new and improved imaging techniques to find small tumors. Researchers have shown that incredibly small iron oxide particles (nanoparticulates) can be used with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to accurately detect cancers that have spread to lymph nodes, without requiring surgery.
Nanoscale drug delivery devices are being developed to deliver anticancer therapeutics specifically to tumors. Liposomes are one such “first generation” nanoscale device. Liposomal doxorubicin is used to treat specific forms of cancer, while liposomal amphotericin B treats fungal infections often associated with aggressive anticancer treatment. Recently, a nanoparticulate formulation of the well-known anticancer compound taxol was submitted as a new treatment for advanced stage breast cancer.
In the near future, nanoscale devices may lead to detection of the earliest stages of cancer while simultaneously delivering anticancer agents to the tumor. Early research has shown that nanoparticulate sensors can detect the cell death that occurs when a cancer cell succumbs to the effects of an anticancer drug. As a highly sensitive means of determining if a therapy is working, this application of nanotechnology could save a patient from months of ineffective medication and debilitating side effects, allowing a switch to a potentially more effective course of treatment. In addition, such a sensor could greatly accelerate clinical trials of new anticancer agents, again by demonstrating very early signals of the effectiveness of a drug.
The NCI envisions over the next five years that nanotechnology will result in significant advances in early detection, molecular imaging, assessment of therapeutic efficacy, targeted and multifunctional therapeutics, and the prevention and control of cancer.
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Nanoscale devices are somewhere from one hundred to ten thousand times smaller than human cells. They are similar in size to large biological molecules (“biomolecules”) such as enzymes and receptors. As an example, hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen in red blood cells, is approximately 5 nanometers in diameter. Nanoscale devices smaller than 50 nanometers can easily enter most cells, while those smaller than 20 nanometers can move out of blood vessels as they circulate through the body.
Because of their small size, nanoscale devices can readily interact with biomolecules on both the surface of cells and inside of cells. By gaining access to so many areas of the body, they have the potential to detect disease and deliver treatment in ways unimagined before now. Since biological processes—including events that lead to cancer—occur at the nanoscale at and inside cells, nanotechnology offers a wealth of tools that are providing cancer researchers with new and innovative ways to diagnose and treat cancer.
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The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer represents an investment of $144.3 million over five years. The NCI, based on its experience in funding cancer nanotechnology research and on the input received from cancer and nanotechnology experts across the country, envisions that a major initiative in applied cancer nanotechnology has great potential to lead to significant clinical advances. Given the urgency of developing new diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive measures to fight cancer, NCI believes that nanotechnology is primed to be further explored as a tool in our arsenal against cancer. This initiative is one of several that NCI supports to further enable the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer for the benefit of human health.
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Research tools to identify new biological targets
Agents to monitor predictive molecular changes and prevent precancerous cells from becoming malignant
Imaging agents and diagnostics to detect cancer in the earliest, most easily treatable, pre-symptomatic stage
Multi-functional targeted devices to deliver multiple therapeutic agents directly to cancer cells
Systems to provide real-time assessments of therapeutic and surgical efficacy
Novel methods to manage symptoms that reduce quality of life
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