Yale researchers are recently developing a novel skin cancer treatment that could replace surgery by injecting nanoparticles into tumors to kill cancer cells in a two-pronged approach.
Yale researchers are recently developing a novel skin cancer treatment that could replace surgery by injecting nanoparticles into tumors, using a two-pronged approach to kill cancer cells.
“Finding a simpler way to treat skin cancer has been the holy grail in dermatology.” Michael Girardi, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate investigator and professor of dermatology at Yale University, said, “Treatment options for skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are very complex for many patients, but we hope to treat them effectively with simple methods such as injections.”
The new treatment injects polymer-based nanoparticles with chemotherapeutic agents into the tumor. The key to successful treatment is that the nanoparticles are bioadhesive, meaning they bind to the tumor and stay attached long enough to kill a large number of cancer cells.
When we injected the nanoparticles into the tumor, they proved to be well retained in the tumor,” said co-author Mark Saltzman, a professor of physiology at Yale University. They accumulate and bind to the tumor stroma, so a single injection can last a long Time. The nanoparticles stay in the tumor slowly releasing compounds to remove the lesion.”
To compare treatment effects, the researchers also conducted controlled experiments. They injected the same chemotherapy drug into a control tumor model without nanoparticles. The results showed that the tumors significantly lost viability when the drug was delivered through the nanoparticles.
Another key point of the therapy is that it can be used in combination with drugs that stimulate the body’s immune system. You don’t want to just kill The cancer cells and leave them there, you also want to stimulate the immune system to clean up the mess and fight the cancer cells that may not have been killed directly,” Dr. Giraldi said, referring to this as “kill and stimulate. So, it’s a two-pronged approach.”
In many cases, eliminating tumors by injection can reduce the need for surgery and also avoid potential wound infections and other complications, the researchers said. In addition, some patients with other conditions are not good candidates for surgery. Also, injection therapy means patients can have multiple tumors treated during a single visit.
“In these studies, we only injected the nanoparticles once, and that’s how we want it to work in the clinic.” Salzman says, “You go to a dermatologist, they find the lesion and inject the drug, and then the lesion goes away and you don’t have to come back next time.”
The Yale researchers are currently working with the startup company Stradefy Biosciences and plan to advance the technology into preclinical development and then clinical trials.
The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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