Researchers from IIT Madras and two Australian universities, Monash University and Deakin University, have created a tiny needle system that delivers cancer medications straight into breast cancer cells while shielding healthy ones.
The anticancer medication doxorubicin is packed into unique protective bubbles by the nanotechnology injectable delivery system, which then uses needle-shaped silicon tubes on a chip to force the drug inside cells.
"It was a study on petri dishes," stated Dr. Swathi Sudhakar, an assistant professor in the applied mechanics and biomedical engineering department at IIT-M.
"Direct drug release would result in a quicker delivery. It was therefore encased in a bubble and forced into it for long-term release.
According to Dr. Sudhakar, "lab tests on breast cancer cells showed the drugs stopped cell growth, killed cancer cells, and blocked new blood vessels for tumors."
One of the most prevalent cancers that affect women in both urban and rural locations is breast cancer. Breast cancer accounts for 28% of all female cancer cases in cities like Chennai, with cervix (14%), ovary (6%), and corpus uteri (4%) following closely behind.
Due to systemic medication exposure, conventional treatments like radiation and chemotherapy frequently have side effects that damage non-cancerous cells.
According to the study's findings, which were published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials Interfaces, the novel method outperformed the medication by a factor of 23. Even at lower doses, it exhibited greater promise.
Thermal stability and long-term drug release up to 700 hours as well as frequent issues with current nanocarrier systems, like burst release and incompatibility, are all addressed, according to her. They claimed that the technology offers a scalable and dependable option for next experiments.
