Nanoparticles hold great promise for improving cancer treatment. For example, they can guide drugs directly to tumors, increasing effectiveness and reducing side effects. However, significant challenges need to be overcome before these engineering marvels make it to the clinic.
On the engineering side, it’s difficult to make anything that small, around 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter). Researchers also must generate particles that are uniform in size and shape and, once they’ve done their job, these particles must break down safely in the body.
On the treatment side, nanoparticles share the same obstacles as all potential treatments—cancer is wily. Because the disease evolves so rapidly, it finds ways to escape treatments, leading to drug resistance. So even the perfect nanoparticle, containing a single treatment, might not be effective in the long run.
Enter Janus particles. Named for the Roman god with two faces, Janus particles are spherical and have two very different sides—one that loves water and one that hates it. This conflicted relationship with water comes into play when attaching therapies. The two distinct sides can hold different agents.
“These particles give us a lot of versatility,” says Dr. Jeffrey Smith, whose lab is working to perfect Janus particles. “For example, we can create a theranostic, a particle with a therapy on one side and a diagnostic imaging agent on the other.”
Janus particles have been around for a few years, but they have been difficult to make in the quantity and uniformity needed for clinical trials. The Smith laboratory may have solved these problems. “These particles are stunningly uniform,” says Dr. Smith.
In addition, the particles are made of a polymer called PLGA, which is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration and breaks down into harmless glycolic acid and lactic acid in the bloodstream.
Janus particles could be a great boon to cancer treatment. For example, clinicians could create particles with chemically different treatments on each face, allowing them to combine treatments that normally could not be combined. In addition, some treatments known for their toxicity are significantly less toxic when delivered by nanoparticles. Dr. Smith is also creating particles with a treatment on one side and a gene or piece of RNA on the other. The genetic material would make the cancer cell more vulnerable to the treatment.
Ultimately, Dr. Smith would like to make particles with multiple faces, allowing him to create a nano-cocktail to attack cancer.
“You just cannot be effective without attacking from multiple angles,” says Dr. Smith. “More faces mean more therapeutics and hopefully more success.”
Helo,i m a msc student in biotechnology,amity university,rajasthan,india, and interested in cancer research specially in use of nanoparticle in cancer.we,my friend and i,will plan a project in produce and apply silver nanoparticle in cancer therapy.would you like give us more information about the two-faced naboparticles?thanks for your attention.
sima zarinfard