Russian scientists have revealed a new technology in cancer treatmentScience and technology04 December 2024, 01:42

Russian scientists have proposed using neutrophils, specialized white blood cells that form an important part of the immune system, to deliver nanoparticles to malignant tumors. This discovery could significantly improve cancer treatments by providing new opportunities for effective diagnosis and treatment. NUST MISIS experts spoke about their development.

Nanoparticles have long been used in medicine to deliver drugs directly to tumors, but ensuring they are delivered correctly is important for effective treatment. One option to solve this problem is the use of neutrophils that can capture and transport nanoparticles. As Maxim Abakumov, Candidate of Chemical Sciences and head of the Biomedical Nanomaterials laboratory at NUST MISIS, explains, neutrophils are able to move throughout the body and respond to inflammation or tumor changes, making them ideal “couriers” for drug delivery.

However, this method also has its difficulties. Some coatings on nanoparticles can inhibit their uptake by neutrophils, and the materials and shape of the particles greatly affect the efficiency of interaction with cells. Additionally, since blood cells do not last long, they must be collected quickly, treated with medications, and returned to the patient’s body. During experiments, scientists found that magnetite nanoparticles and copolymer particles were successfully captured by neutrophils and delivered to the tumor, while liposomes were not directly captured but helped deliver them to the tumor tissue through the neutrophils’ mechanisms of disrupting vascular walls. In the future, researchers plan to improve the parameters of the nanoparticles, which will help improve their interaction with neutrophils and increase the effectiveness of the treatment.