Artistic rendering illustrating how the mechanical nanosurgery, a new approach established by SickKids and University of Toronto researchers, targets cancer cells from inside the tumor, sparing healthy tissue while doing so. Credit: Created by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) research team utilizing Midjourney
Mechanical nanosurgery, a brand-new technique established by scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, uses magnetic carbon nanotubes to target and ruin chemoresistant glioblastoma cells. The technique has possible applications in treating other cancer types by altering the antibody finishing.
Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto (U of T) have actually combined forces to develop a new approach to potentially deal with tumor cells, called mechanical nanosurgery, even for aggressive, chemoresistant cancers.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer. In spite of numerous treatment choices that exist, consisting of radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy, the average survival time for patients is just around 15 months.
The existing worldwide standard-of-care treatment for GBM patients includes chemotherapy using a drug called temozolomide (TMZ), which extends a persons life expectancy by approximately 2 months compared to patients getting radiotherapy alone. Nevertheless, GBM cells can develop resistance to TMZ over time, lowering its effectiveness and increasing the likelihood of tumor relapse.
In a research study released on March 29 in the journal Science Advances, Dr. Xi Huang, a Senior Scientist in the Developmental & & Stem Cell Biology program at SickKids, and Dr. Yu Sun, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Robotics Institute at U of T, present a new technique to deal with chemoresistant GBM utilizing precision magnetic control in a process they call mechanical nanosurgery.
Mechanical nanosurgery is a brand-new strategy developed by Dr. Xi Huang at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Dr. Yu Sun at the University of Toronto (U of T) that utilizes accuracy magnetics to ruin growth cells from within. Credit: The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
” Through making use of nanotechnology deep inside cancer cells, mechanical nanosurgery is a Trojan Horse approach that could allow us to ruin growth cells from within,” states Huang, whose previous research demonstrating that brain tumor cells are mechanosensitive helped to inform the technique. “By combining our proficiency in biochemistry at SickKids and engineering at U of T, weve established a possible new method to deal with aggressive brain cancer.”.
Developed with first author Dr. Xian Wang, current Assistant Professor at Queens University, former post-doctoral fellow in the Huang Lab and winner of a Lap-Chee Tsui Fellowship through the SickKids Research Training Centre, the mouse model used in the study showed that the mechanical nanosurgery process decreased GBM tumor size widely, consisting of in TMZ-resistant GBM.
How mechanical nanosurgery works.
Magnetic carbon nanotubes (mCNTs) are a form of nanomaterial– tiny cylindrically-shaped tubes made from carbon and, in this case, filled with iron that becomes magnetized when activated by an external magnetic field. In the research study, the research study group covered mCNTs with an antibody that acknowledges a specific protein related to GBM tumor cells. When injected into the growth, the antibodies on the mCNTs cause them to look for tumor cells and are soaked up by them.
” Once the nanotubes are inside the tumor cell, we use a rotating magnetic field to mechanically mobilize the nanotubes to provide mechanical stimulation,” says Sun. “The force applied by the nanotubes damages cellular structures and trigger tumor cell death.”.
Checking out applications beyond brain cancer.
Huangs partnership with Sun at the U of T Department of Mechanical Engineering is continuing to construct on the study findings. As their research study continues, they keep in mind that mechanical nanosurgery may have additional applications in other cancer types.
” Theoretically, by altering the antibody finishing and rerouting nanotubes to the desired tumor site, we might potentially have a means to precisely destroy tumor cells in other cancers,” states Huang.
Referral: “Mechanical nanosurgery of chemoresistant glioblastoma using magnetically regulated carbon nanotubes” by Xian Wang, Zheyuan Gong, Tiancong Wang, Junhui Law, Xin Chen, Siyi Wanggou, Jintian Wang, Binbin Ying, Michelle Francisco, Weifan Dong, Yi Xiong, Jerry J. Fan, Graham MacLeod, Stephane Angers, Xuejun Li, Peter B. Dirks, Xinyu Liu, Xi Huang and Yu Sun, 29 March 2023, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/ sciadv.ade5321.
This research study was moneyed by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Research Fund, Canadian Cancer Society, Concern Foundation, b.r.a.i.n.child, Sontag Foundation, Meagans HUG, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, Hopper-Belmont Foundation, Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre, Garron Family Cancer Centre, and SickKids Foundation.