Researchers at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology have developed an innovative treatment for breast cancer, based on analgesic nanoparticles that target the nervous system.

The study, published in Science Advances, was led by Professor Avi Schroeder and Ph.D. student Maya Kaduri of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and despite breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment, about one thousand women in Israel die of the disease per year. Around 15% of them are under the age of 50.

Worldwide, some 685,000 women die each year from breast cancer.

Prof. Schroeder has years of experience in developing innovative cancer treatments, including ones for breast cancer and specifically triple-negative breast cancer – an aggressive cancer characterised by rapid cell division with a higher risk of metastasis.

Technologies developed in his lab include novel methods for encapsulating drug molecules in nanoparticles that transport the drug to the tumour and release it inside, without damaging healthy tissue.

The researchers found that cancer cells have a reciprocal relationship with the nerve cells around them: the cancer cells stimulate infiltration of nerve cells into the tumour, and this infiltration stimulates cancer cell proliferation, growth, and migration.

In other words, the cancer cells recruit the nerve cells for their purposes.

Based on these findings, the researchers developed a treatment that targets the tumour through the nerve cells. This treatment is based on injecting nanoparticles containing anaesthetic into the bloodstream. The nanoparticles travel through the bloodstream toward the tumour, accumulate around the nerve cells in the cancerous tissue, and paralyse the local nerves and communication between the nerve cells and the cancer cells. The result: significant inhibition of tumour development and of metastasis to the lungs, brain, and bone marrow.

The nanoparticles simulate the cell membrane and are coated with special polymers that disguise them from the immune system and enable a long circulation time in the bloodstream. Each such particle, which is around 100 nm in diameter, contains the anaesthetic.

According to Maya Kaduri: "We know how to create the exact size of particles needed, and that is critical because it’s the key to penetrating the tumour. tumours stimulate increased formation of new blood vessels around them, so that they receive oxygen and nutrients, but the structure of these blood vessels is damaged and contains nano-sized holes that enable penetration of nanoparticles. The cancerous tissue is characterised by poor lymphatic drainage, which further increases accumulation of the particles in the tissue."

"Therefore, the anaesthetising particles we developed move through the bloodstream without penetrating healthy tissue."

"Only when they reach the damaged blood vessels of the tumour do they leak out, accumulate around the nerve cells of the cancerous tissue, and disconnect them from the cancer cells."

"The fact that this is a very focused and precise treatment enables us to insert significant amounts of anaesthetic into the body because there is no fear that it will harm healthy and vital areas of the nervous system."

In experiments on cancer cell cultures and in treatment of mice, the new technology inhibited not only tumour development but also metastasis. The researchers estimate these findings may be relevant for treatment of breast cancer in humans.

Source: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology