Todays’ science and technology allow us to look beyond the level of the cancer cell, to the molecules inside the cell. To fight cancer on this scale, our weapons must be tiny. This is where nanotechnology comes in. It is now possible to make chemical structures as small as one nanometre ? 1/1000th the width of a human hair. Working with these tiny structures, called nanoparticles, our scientists are developing new and innovative ways to treat cancer.
The beauty of nanotechnology
One of the biggest issues in the care of children with cancer today is that of treatment toxicity. While a child may survive their cancer, they are likely to suffer serious long-term health issues as a result of treatment. The reason for this is that conventional treatments damage healthy cells as well as cancer cells. To improve quality of life for survivors, we need treatments that directly target cancer cells.
Nanomedicine – using nanoparticles for medical purposes — is a new approach that allows us to do just that. Because of their tiny size and highly specialised nature, nanoparticles can be made to specifically target cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed.
By specifically targeting cancer cells, we can make treatment more effective, as well as much safer to use in children."
- Professor Maria Kavallaris AM
Using nanoparticles to treat leukaemia
Scientists at Children’s Cancer Institute have made exciting progress using nanoparticles as ‘drug delivery vehicles’ that package and carry anticancer treatments directly to cancer cells. These treatments not only include anticancer drugs, but also new generation treatments as well, such as gene-silencing agents.
In May 2023, our scientists published exciting research showing how nanomedicine could be designed to specifically target leukaemia cells. A formulation of the anticancer drug doxorubicin was used, in which the drug is encapsulated in nanoparticles called liposomes. To this, our researchers added ‘bi-specific antibodies’ – molecules capable of recognizing and attaching to the nanoparticle drug at one end, and to cancer cells at the other end.
Using this approach, the researchers were able to deliver the drug to its target, leukaemia cells, resulting in the death of the cells. In living models of leukaemia, they were able to not only reduce the amount of leukaemia, but also significantly prolong survival – in some cases, up to four-fold.
What is particularly useful about this new approach is its flexibility. We can use this system to target any leukaemia."
- Dr Ernest Moles
Exciting possibilities
One way in which our scientists hope to see their research making a contribution is in the context of precision medicine. Potentially, it may be possible to target each child’s treatment to their specific subtype of leukaemia, using the drug delivery system developed in our labs.
It may also prove possible to use this new approach to counter drug resistance in a child. If a child’s cancer cells alter their cell surface in an attempt to evade chemotherapy, the targeted drug delivery system could be modified so it is able to recognise that altered cancer cell surface.
In the future, the team is hopeful their research will pave the way to safer and more effective treatment options for children with other types of cancer too, including solid tumours.
Isla's story
Little Isla had been diagnosed with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL): a particularly aggressive form of leukaemia.
