MIXING CHEMISTRY WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY TO REWRITE THE MODERN RECIPE FOR CANCER CHEMOTHERAPEUTICS

Abstract

Cancer is one of the top leading causes of death in the United States, contributing to an estimated average of 600,000 deaths per year. Chemotherapy has proven to be the most effective anti-cancer drug in modern medicine today, but the downfall of this form of treatment is its debilitating side effects that significantly suppresses the body's immune system, killing off vital immune system protectors such as white blood cells in its effort to eliminate the immature and rapidly reproducing cancer cells. To combat this, the Lu lab is working to develop a nanotechnology-enabled chemotherapeutic drug that can specifically recognize and target the patient's cancer rather than toxify the entire immune system itself. The goal is to increase the efficacy of this self-assembling pro-drug in its ability to inhibit the cancer growth in all stages compared to modern methods whose efficacy is dependent on the degree of progression of the cancer as well as the degree of aggression of the treatment. We are currently testing our developed drugs by treating various types of cancer cells with drug-loaded liposomes that have proven effective in their ability to transport drugs and control their release in the body without inducing an immune response. Through our research, we aspire to develop more efficacious, clinically translatable, combination cancer chemotherapies through the use of nanotechnology that has the potential to change the face of modern chemotherapeutics as well as the lives of the hundreds of thousands that are fighting cancer every year.