Keeping you up to date on recent headlines in oncology.
Nanodiamonds may facilitate safer gene therapy ... Gene therapy holds promise in the treatment of many diseases, particularly cancer, but developing a scalable system for delivering genes to cells both efficiently and safely has been challenging. Now a team of Northwestern University (Chicago) researchers has introduced the power of nanodiamonds as a gene delivery technology that combines key properties in one approach: enhanced delivery efficiency along with outstanding biocompatibility. "Finding a more efficient and biocompatible method for gene delivery than is currently available is a major challenge in medicine," said Dean Ho, who led the research. "By harnessing the innate advantages of nanodiamonds we now have demonstrated their promise for gene therapy." Ho is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Ho and his team engineered surface-modified nanodiamond particles that successfully and efficiently delivered DNA into mammalian cells. The delivery efficiency was 70 times greater than that of a conventional standard for gene delivery. The new hybrid material could impact many facets of nanomedicine. The results are published in ACS Nano.
Electron beam radiation boost used during breast cancer surgery ... Breast cancer surgeons and radiation oncologists at St. Joseph Hospital (Orange, California) have performed a new procedure combining removal of a patient's breast tumor with the power of electron beam radiation in the operating room. Studies have determined that radiating the tumor site in the breast following surgery reduces the risk of the cancer returning. Traditionally, after surgical removal of the breast cancer, many patients undergo radiation therapy for about six weeks followed by an additional five days of focused radiation treatment, called a "boost." It is the first time on the West Coast that electron beam radiation treatment was used as an electron boost during breast cancer surgery. This procedure, known as intraoperative radiation therapy, was delivered with the FDA-approved device, the Mobetron. "We are extremely excited to see St. Joseph's begin treating breast cancer with the Mobetron," said John Powers, CEO of IntraOp Medical (Sunnyvale, California), manufacturer of the Mobetron. "Delivering radiation at the same time the cancerous tumor is removed allows us to visualize the exact area we need to radiate and destroy any residual tumor cells while they are most vulnerable," said Afshin Forouzannia, MD, radiation oncologist, St. Joseph Hospital. This also results in substantially less radiation affecting the healthy tissue of the breast and skin.
Brain mapping during surgery improves outcomes ... Kim Delvaux was undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor when doctors at Loyola University Hospital (Maywood, Illinois) woke her up. Vikram Prabhu, MD, talked to her about her favorite topics NASCAR and her kids. While she was awake, Prabhu gently probed brain tissue surrounding the tumor. If this affected Delvaux's ability to speak or move, Prabhu would avoid those areas when he later removed the tumor. "We call these areas No Fly Zones,'" he said. The technique allows the surgeon to map out sites that are essential for speech and motor skills. Surgeons have been doing various forms of brain mapping for decades. But advances in preoperative imaging, anesthesia and surgical tools and techniques have significantly improved outcomes. Consequently, surgeons are able to remove tumors in close proximity to critical parts of the brain, and patients are experiencing fewer cognitive and motor deficits. "Evidence in the medical literature supports the safety and efficacy of brain mapping," said Prabhu, a neurosurgical oncologist and associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Prabhu does brain mapping on especially difficult cases in which tumors are located close to critical brain structures. He has done about 35 cases since he began a brain mapping program at Loyola in 2004.
UCLA to build new cancer research facility ... The University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry has received a major infusion of construction funding for the creation of the UCLA Yip Center for Oral/Head & Neck Oncology Research. As a result of funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has awarded more than $5 million for the state-of-the-art complex, which will consolidate and expand the school's ongoing translational research in the biology, detection and treatment of oral cancer. "This visionary funding will enable the dental school to become a nexus of multidisciplinary, collaborative research," said No-Hee Park, dean of the UCLA School of Dentistry and the principal investigator for the construction grant. "Our goal is to make UCLA the home of the premier head and neck and oral oncology research program in the nation, a place where we find new methods for the early diagnosis and treatment of this devastating disease."
Drug delivery system uses nanoparticles and lasers ... Researchers at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) have developed a new way to deliver drugs into cancer cells by exposing them briefly to a non-harmful laser. "This entirely novel tool will allow biologists to investigate how genes function by providing them with temporal and spatial control over when a gene is turned on or off," said Norbert Reich, senior author of a paper in ACS Nano and a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB. "In a nutshell, what we describe is the ability to control genes in cells and we are working on doing this in animals by briefly exposing them to a non-harmful laser." The scientists used cancer cells from mice and grew them in culture. They then introduced gold nanoshells, with a peptide-lipid coating, that encapsulated silencing ribonucleic acid, which was the drug that was taken up by the cells. Next, they exposed the cells to a non-harmful infrared laser. Gary Braun, first author and a graduate student in UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said, "Laser-controlled release is a convenient and powerful tool, allowing precise dosing of particular cells within a group. The use of biologically friendly tissue penetration with near-infrared light is the ideal for extending this capability into larger biological systems such as tissues and animals."
Depression increases cancer patients' risk of dying ... Depression can affect a cancer patient's likelihood of survival. That is the finding of an analysis to be published in the Nov. 15, 2009 issue of Cancer. The results highlight the need for systematic screening of psychological distress and subsequent treatments. A number of studies have shown that individuals' mental attitudes can impact their physical health. To determine the effects of depression on cancer patients' disease progression and survival, graduate student Jillian Satin, MA, of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia), and her colleagues analyzed all of the studies to date they could identify related to the topic. They found 26 studies with a total of 9,417 patients that examined the effects of depression on patients' cancer progression and survival. "We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others and also in patients who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder compared to patients who have not," said Satin. In the combined studies, the death rates were up to 25% higher in patients experiencing depressive symptoms and 39% higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression. The increased risks remained even after considering patients' other clinical characteristics that might affect survival, indicating that depression may actually play a part in shortening survival.
—Compiled by Lynn Yoffee, MDD