Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a bottle-brush-shaped molecule that can carry different groups of anticancer drugs in the right proportions. Tests in mice showed significantly improved results compared to isolated drug administration.
Existing anticancer drugs are effective against this disease, but unfortunately they do not always reach exactly where they are needed in the right amount, leading to various toxic side effects. Groups of drugs can increase your chances of fighting cancer, but corralling them into targets is even more difficult.
“If you inject three drugs into the body, it is very unlikely that the correct ratio of the drugs will reach the cancer cells at the same time,” said Jeremiah Johnson, co-first author of the study. said. “These drugs have different properties that move them to different locations, which greatly hinders transformation of these identified synergistic drug ratios.”
So a team at MIT has developed a molecule that can be modified to contain several drugs in precise proportions, keeping the drugs inactive until they reach the cancer cells. Drug molecules are conjugated to monomers, all mixed together, and these building blocks form polymers. This creates a kind of chain with the dormant drug sticking out from the central backbone, giving the molecule a bottle-brush shape.
The team first tested a bottle-brush drug carrier in a laboratory dish to experiment with the most effective ratio of three anticancer drugs used to treat multiple myeloma: bortezomib, an immunostimulant called pomalidomide, and an anti-inflammatory drug called dexamethasone.
Once the researchers identified the ideal ratio, they administered drugs to mice with multiple myeloma via bottlebrush molecules. And indeed, bottle brushes containing all three drugs slowed tumor growth significantly compared to giving the drugs separately in the same ratio or putting all three drugs in their own bottle brush. I got
The team also found that a bottle brush containing only bortezomib performed better than the drug given in isolation. Side effects were also reduced due to its efficacy.
While the idea is interesting, it’s worth remembering that these studies are still in a very early stage, and results in mice may not always translate to humans. We will continue to develop the bottle brush for clinical trials, as well as explore other portable drug combinations. This could include other treatments such as antibodies or mRNA.
A study was published in a journal nanotechnology in nature.
Source: MIT
