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Recent Accomplishments

Scientific Advances

The initial effort of the Alliance teams was focused heavily on developing new nanomaterials for use in diagnosing and treating cancer and assessing their behavior in the body. But now, with a substantial knowledge base to inform their efforts, Alliance investigators are creating targeted, nano-enabled agents with the aim of moving these new constructs into human clinical trials. These efforts are being aided by formal interactions between the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that aim to establish standards for regulating clinical trials of nanotechnology-enabled products. A few of the promising preclinical advances are listed below – many others can be found in the News and Highlights section – while the diagnostic and therapeutic agents that have already started clinical trials are listed on the Nanotechnology in Clinical Trials page.

  • Dr. Mansoor Amiji’s team from the Nanotherapeutic Strategy for Multidrug-Resistant Tumors Platform Partnership at Northeastern University has crafted nanoparticles from a biodegradable polymer blend that first releases a powerful anticancer drug and then delivers an agent that tricks a drug-resistant cell into committing suicide. Now, tests in mice with human breast cancer have shown that these blended nanoparticles – designed to fight drug-resistance cancers – are effective in maintaining high levels of both drugs in the vicinity of tumors.
  • The Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Washington University CCNE) research team lead by Drs. Gregory Lanza and Samuel Wickline has developed a nanoparticle-encapsulated formulation of the main component of honeybee toxin. This nanoparticle had a marked therapeutic effect on human tumors growing in mice. A second-generation version of this nanoparticle, which was designed to target the blood vessels that grow around early stage tumors, was able to reduce the proliferation of precancerous skin cells in mice by eighty percent.
  • Dr. Miqin Zhang’s research team at the University of Washington Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnership for Pediatric Brain Cancer Imaging and Therapy has developed a multi-functional nanoparticle that can cross the blood-brain barrier and target glioblastomas. Once in the brain, these nanoparticles can reveal the presence of glioblastomas via MRI imaging and deliver anticancer drugs to the tumors.
  • At the MIT-Harvard Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, Dr. Ralph Weissleder’s group has developed a new type of paramagnetic nanoparticle and a new magnetic resonance sensor that together can detect as few as two cancer cells in one microliter of a biospecimen in less than 15 minutes. Using this system, the researchers were able to detect human tumors growing in mice with virtually 100% accuracy.
  • Dr. Michael Cima’s team at the MIT-Harvard CCNE has developed an implantable device that was capable of monitoring the level of a cancer biomarker for a month using a conventional MRI scanner. Such measurements could provide early clues of metastasis and evidence that a drug is having the desired effect on a tumor.
  • At the Near-Infrared Fluorescence Nanoparticles for Targeted Optical Imaging Platform Partnership, Dr. Chun Li’s team has shown that hollow gold nanospheres equipped with a targeting molecule will find melanoma cells, penetrate them deeply, and then cook the tumor when irradiated with near-infrared light.

Collaboration

The Alliance has also made important advances in its multidisciplinary collaboration efforts. Recent accomplishments include:

Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL)

The National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL), part of NCI’s Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, was established in 2004 to accelerate the translation of promising nanotechnology-derived cancer treatments into clinical applications. The NCL is a formal interagency collaboration between NCI, NIST, and FDA and is operated through the NCI’s Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC) at SAIC/NCI-Frederick.

  • NCL is advancing nanotech cancer therapies into and through the regulatory process. One NCL collaborator successfully submitted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) in 2007-2008 and another NCL collaborator is headed into Phase II clinical trials.
  • NCL coordinated and conducted an interlaboratory comparison of biosensors developed in participation with the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence laboratories.
  • NCL, in collaboration with NIST and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), hosted a workshop on Answering the Need for Standardization in Nanomaterial Measurements. This workshop marked the conclusion of an ASTM-sponsored, NCL and NIST-coordinated interlaboratory study (ILS) involving more than 60 participating laboratories. This study helped elucidate sources of data variability in nanoparticle characterization.
  • NCL initiated a study of the stability of various nanoparticles under conditions mimicking those used to sterilize medical devices in collaboration with the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH).
  • NCL staff continued to contribute directly to the education of the next generation of nanotechnologists through the Foundation for the Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) Bio-Trac biotechnology training courses in nanomedicine. NCL established an NCL-NIST postdoctoral training program in chemistry and external organizations such as the Institute for Food Technologists (IFT) continue to leverage NCL expertise and publications in their educational efforts.

caNanoLab

caNanoLab is currently deployed at the NCL, NCI, Washington University, Stanford University, Georgia Tech and Northwestern. caNanoLab provides access to publicly available data from characterizations performed at the NCL and information on nanoparticles and publications. Currently, the caNanoLab portal supports the submission and retrieval of physical and in vitro characterizations for nanoparticles. To further facilitate translational research, the project is expanding to include support for in vivo characterizations of nanoparticles and their functionalizing entities, which are analogous to those required for small molecules and other medical devices.

Commercialization

The Alliance has over 200 disclosures or patents filed to date and strong relationships with many biotechnology companies. In addition, the Alliance has played a vital role in attracting a number of high-quality research proposals to be funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program on topics that support the mission of the Alliance. The basis for the program is to provide early-stage technology financing in order to promote innovation for developing and commercializing novel technologies and products to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer. Companies spun out of Alliance laboratories include: