UAB creates new cancer-fighting drug 

UAB chemists are at it again with a new cancer-fighting drug. The question is how efficient will this new drug be in the future fight against cancer therapy?

This triple threat treatment is a polymer capsule that will deliver the encased drug to a tumor and be able to treat it while also protecting surrounding tissue from “collateral” damage. With this new design, the UAB researchers, Eugenia Kharlampieva and co-first authors Jun Chen and Sithira Ratnayaka, are getting closer to preclinical testing.

“We envision an entirely different approach to treating solid human tumors of numerous pathologic subtypes, including common metastatic malignancies such as breast, melanoma, colon, prostate and lung, utilizing these capsules as a delivery platform”

– Eugenia Kharlampieva, Ph.D., UAB Researcher

The multilayered capsules combine three very important traits that are much needed in the fight against cancerous tumors. They have good imaging contrast allowing detection from low-power ultrasound. They are stable and efficient holders of the drug doxorubicin and both a high and low dose of ultrasound can trigger the release of the drug component. This will help target solid tumors more accurately creating a noninvasive alternative to cancer surgery in the future.

These capsules have a strong potential to be an efficient cancer therapy utilizing ultrasound. The next step will be taking the drug to animal models to study how long the capsules will last in blood circulation and its distribution patterns. This will be done in collaboration with UAB Department of Radiology assistant professor, Mark Bolding, Ph.D., and Department of Otolaryngology assistant professor, Jason Warren.