Nanoparticles boost effects of combination therapy for pancreatic cancer

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)! Seems to be a promising approach!

"Key takeaways:

Improving drug delivery. Custom-designed nanoparticles that deliver drugs directly to tumors can avoid the toxicity of traditional chemotherapy.

Crafting a ‘combo’ carrier. Researchers designed an innovative nanoparticle outfitted with both a chemotherapy drug and an immune system–boosting drug.

Two are better. The two-drug nanocarrier was significantly better at shrinking pancreatic tumors and preventing metastasis than nanocarriers that delivered the drugs individually. ...
Pancreatic cancer, however, has remained difficult to treat. Only 1 in 9 people survive five years after diagnosis, in part because this cancer is protected by biological factors that help it resist treatment. ...
The researchers’ double-loaded nanocarrier was more effective at shrinking tumors and preventing cancer metastasis in mice than either irinotecan without a nanocarrier or nanocarriers that delivered the two drugs independently. The combination therapy also attracted more cancer-killing immune cells to tumor sites and maintained drug levels in the blood for longer. There was no evidence of harmful side effects. ..."

From the abstract:

"Although toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists hold great promise as immune modulators for reprogramming the suppressive immune landscape in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), their use is limited by poor pharmacokinetics (PK) and off-target systemic inflammatory effects. To overcome these challenges as well as to attain drug synergy, we developed a lipid bilayer (LB)-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticle (silicasome) platform for co-delivery of the TLR7/8 agonist 3M-052 with the immunogenic chemotherapeutic agent irinotecan. This was accomplished by incorporating the C18 lipid tail of 3M-052 in the coated LB, also useful for irinotecan remote loading in the porous interior. Not only did the co-formulated carrier improve PK, but it strengthened the irinotecan-induced immunogenic cell death response by 3M-052-mediated dendritic cell activation at the tumor site as well as participating lymph nodes. The accompanying increase in CD8+ T-cell infiltration along with a reduced number of regulatory T-cells was associated with tumor shrinkage and metastasis disappearance in subcutaneous and orthotopic KRAS-mediated pancreatic carcinoma tumor models. ..."

‘Glass bubble’ nanocarrier boosts effects of combination therapy for pancreatic cancer | UCLA When two drugs were delivered in one nanoparticle rather than separately, the treatment worked better in mice

Nanocarrier Co-formulation for Delivery of a TLR7 Agonist plus an Immunogenic Cell Death Stimulus Triggers Effective Pancreatic Cancer Chemo-immunotherapy (no public access)

A pancreatic cancer cell, protected by its ropelike barrier.