Scientists have engineered a revolutionary cancer treatment using iron-doped carbon nanoparticles that can unerringly target and dope nucleus-targeted drug chemodynamic therapy but again with minimal side harm to healthy cells.
Augmenting Cancer Therapy with Iron
The treatment has a precarious equilibrium to strike; in order to cure cancer, the drugs must kill tumor cells without hurting the healthy cells of the patient.
A team of researchers led by Prof. Wang Hui and Prof. Qian Junchao from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under Chinese Academy of Sciences has advanced an innovative, safe and drug-free nanotherapy for cancer treatment based on a new study using extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Here, we report an iron-doped carbon nanoparticle (FDCN), which is catalytically active and photoresponsive, for second near infrared window (NIR-II) triggered photothermal-enhanced chemodynamic therapy. Previous studies have shown that clinicians can also use another radical, hydroxyl (·OH) to kill tumor cells but cannot hurt the health cells in our body, a discovery which produced from carbon nanoparticles doped with metal atoms.
Maximizing Impact by Combining the Latest Therapies
Of course, the researchers went further. They mixed their home-made FDCN nanoparticles with a new cancer fighting tool: photothermal therapy.
Photothermal therapy, on the other hand, involves using light energy to convert into heat that is used to destroy cancer cells. To achieve a more effective tumor ablation, the researchers used this strategy combined with chemodynamic therapy based on FDCN nanoparticles, producing a synergistic treatment.
The generated heat of the photothermal therapy further accelerates production of paramount ·OH radicals and boosts the treatment efficacy in general. Extensive testing has demonstrated that the unique synergy of the dual therapy is highly precise and safe in concentrating on cancer cells under NIR-II light both in vitro and in vivo, making full use of the characteristics of the better therapeutic outcomes induced by NIR-II spectrum.
The researchers noted that this advance marks a new approach in cancer treatment and introduces potential applications for carbon-based nanomaterials in the medical field.
Conclusion
Summary Photothermal-enhanced chemodynamic cancer therapy (PTCDT) is one of the most efficacious strategies for targeting cancers, wherein external iron-based catalysts not only can catalyze oxidative stress after being excited by near-infrared laser irradiation but also seem to be at a cellular location and concentration appropriate for therapeutic efficacy. This integrated system that uses advanced technologies to target cancer cells specifically is an alternative for a safer and efficient method of curing the disease by offering increased promises in achieving much improved responses from patients suffering due to this condition. With the research still ongoing, we will be seeing more improvements in the utilization of carbon-based nanomaterials in the medical field to ensure a future where cancer therapy can be done with improved management and patient well-being.
