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Nanotherapeutic Strategy for Multidrug-Resistant Tumors
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Source: Northeastern University |
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This Partnership, which includes researchers from Northeastern University, the Roger Williams Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will develop multifunctional targeted nanoscale devices to deliver therapeutic agents and tumor resistance modulators directly to cancer cells as a means of overcoming multiple-drug resistance. Preliminary work by this team has already produced biodegradable, tumor-targeted drug nanocarriers, and this team is now ready to begin translational efforts to move this research along a development path to the clinic.
The initial oncology focus of this project will be breast and ovarian cancers. The team, led by Mansoor Amiji, Ph.D., Northeastern University, has expertise in nanoparticle design, pharmaceutical chemistry, cancer biology, and clinical oncology.
DNA-linked Dendrimer Nanoparticle Systems for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
This Partnership at the University of Michigan will develop multi-component, dendrimer nanoparticles that will target, image, and treat cancer. The team will first refine technology designed to assemble the various dendrimer components into a multifunctional device, and then begin preclinical testing of the resulting formulations and make extensive use of the NCI’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) to generate the preclinical safety and pharmacokinetic data needed to move these nanoparticles to the clinic.
The initial focus of this project will be epithelial tumors. The team, led by James Baker, Jr., M.D., University of Michigan, has expertise in dendrimer development, immunology, cancer biology, and clinical oncology.
Metallofullerene Nanoplatform for Imaging and Treating Infiltrative Tumor
This Partnership at the Virginia Commonwealth University will develop metal-based fullerenes (buckyballs), a type of hollow, spherical nanoparticle, to simultaneously deliver imaging agents and anticancer therapeutics to brain tumors known as gliomas.
The initial focus of this project will be brain cancer. The team, led by Panos Fatouros, Ph.D., FACR, Virginia Commonwealth University, has expertise in experimental and clinical imaging, chemistry, neurosurgery, oncology, and tumor targeting. Metal-based fullerenes were invented by one of the Partnership team members.
Detecting Cancer Early with Targeted Nano-Probes for Vascular Signatures
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Source: University of California, San Francisco |
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This Partnership, involving researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, and the Burnham Institute, will develop highly specific molecular imaging probes that will enable non-invasive early detection of incipient cancer. These targeted probes will serve as platforms for testing the benefits of new nanotechnology-based imaging agents with improved properties (e.g., higher signal output) forthcoming from the new Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and the Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnership programs.
The team, led by Douglas Hanahan, Ph.D., UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF Diabetes Center, has expertise in angiogenesis and mouse models of cancer; vascular profiling; and clinical and experimental molecular imaging.
Photodestruction of Ovarian Cancer: ErbB3 Targeted Aptamer-Nanoparticle Conjugate
This Partnership at the Massachusetts General Hospital is focused on developing multifunctional nanoparticles that can deliver light-activated anticancer compounds specifically to ovarian cancer cells. Once bound to the target cells, the nanoparticles are activated using a miniature endoscopic laser to illuminate only the tumors, providing a second means of ensuring that healthy tissue is spared damage during therapy.
The team, led by Tayyaba Hasan, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, has expertise in photodynamic therapy, fiber-optic procedures, and nanoparticle design and synthesis.
Hybrid Nanoparticles in Imaging and Therapy of Prostate Cancer
This Partnership at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will use its established expertise in nanomaterial design to create gold nanoparticles capable of imaging molecular abnormalities associated with the earliest stages of prostate cancer. By incorporating gold nanoparticles on cancer specific peptides, the Partnership’s investigators hope to create agents that can both image and treat small prostate tumors.
The team, led by Kattesh Katti, Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia, has expertise in chemistry, radiology, veterinary sciences, pathology, physics, and biocompatible nanoparticle development.
Near-Infrared Fluorescence Nanoparticles for Targeted Optical Imaging
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Source: The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
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This Partnership, a collaboration between the researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Eastman Kodak, aims to develop novel nanoparticles for targeted molecular optical imaging of early-stage tumors. The fluorescent nanoparticles, developed at Kodak, emit near-infrared fluorescence light that can penetrate deep into tissues. The nanoparticles will be targeted to tumor-associated antigens, reporting their presence or absence in the tumors. Nanoparticles are also designed to respond to enzymatic action which light up only when first activated by enzymes found exclusively on the surface of certain types of cancer cells. The Partnership will focus on studies to fully characterize the biological behavior of these particles and target them to a wide variety of cancer cells.
The initial oncology focus of this project will be brain, breast, and skin cancers. The team, led by Chun Li, Ph.D., The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, has expertise in nanoparticle formulation, imaging science, neurosurgery, and molecular biology.
Integrated System for Cancer Biomarker Detection
This Partnership at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will develop microfluidic devices whose nanochannels are capable of concentrating rare proteins from biospecimens. These devices will then be integrated with another chip-based device to detect and quantify panels of proteins that may serve as early signs of cancer. The devices will be fabricated in such a way as to enable widespread and low-cost distribution for use in the healthcare setting.
The initial oncology focus of this project will be prostate cancer. The team, led by Scott Manalis, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has expertise in nanofabrication, clinical oncology, and cell biology.
Novel Cancer Nanotechnology Platforms for Photodynamic Therapy and Imaging
This Partnership, which includes team members from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the University of Buffalo, and the University of Michigan, will develop targeted nanoparticle platforms for detecting and imaging cancers, and selectively delivering light-activated anticancer compounds for guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). Because of the team’s extensive experience with the systems they are developing — previous work was funded in part by NCI's Unconventional Innovations Program — this Partnership expects to validate the usefulness of their nanoparticles both for imaging tumors and then killing them with PDT, using models for breast, lung, prostate and colon cancers.
The team, led by Allan Oseroff, M.D., Ph.D., Roswell Park Cancer Institute and University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has expertise in nanoparticle design, animal models of human cancer, photodynamic therapy, imaging, and clinical oncology.
Multifunctional Nanoparticles in Diagnosis and Therapy of Pancreatic Cancer
Investigators from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have combined forces in this Partnership to develop and test multifunctional, hybrid ceramic-polymeric nanoparticles that will deliver imaging and therapeutic agents to pancreatic tumors. This group has a strong history of developing novel, biocompatible nanomaterials—including non-toxic quantum dots—that have the capacity to be targeted to specific types of cancer cells. Based on the prior work by members of this Partnership, they expect to begin translating their work into preclinical and clinical studies in the near-term.
The team, led by Paras Prasad, Ph.D., University at Buffalo, has expertise in materials design and clinical oncology.
Nanotechnology Platform for Targeting Solid Tumors
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Source: Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center |
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This Partnership at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center will build on extensive experience in nanoparticle development and blood vessel biology to create nanodevices that will target specific cells lining blood vessels in order to improve transit out of the bloodstream and into tumors. Miniaturized probes can be injected into the bloodstream to go throughout the body and not only report back the state of each organ, but actually seek out and treat cancer. This technology has application for imaging and therapy of a wide variety of solid tumors, both primary and metastatic (or disseminated disease) including breast, prostate, kidney, colon and lung.
The team, led by Jan Schnitzer, M.D., Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San Diego, includes chemists, molecular imagers, tumor biologists and molecular biologists.
Nanotechnology Platform for Pediatric Brain Cancer Imaging and Therapy
A collaborative effort among researchers at the University of Washington, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, and Philips Medical Systems, this Partnership will develop imaging agents and multifunctional nanoscale drug delivery vehicles targeted to medulloblastoma, the most common brain tumor in children. This Partnership will focus on building on its previous research and developing translational efforts to bring this technology into the clinic.
The team, led by Raymond Sze, M.D., University of Washington, has expertise in pediatric brain cancer, tumor molecular biology, magnetic resonance imaging, and materials science. |
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Among the issues that NCI grappled with in the design of its Cancer Nanotechnology Plan two years ago was the challenge of translation: how to ensure that discoveries would not rest inside a rarified academic world, but would move expeditiously towards clinical application to achieve genuine benefits for patients within three to five years. In other words, how we move great science from the bench to the bedside quickly.
