Enhancing Effectiveness of drugs Against Prostate Cancer

The University of Minnesota researcher Hongbo Pang led a cross-institutional study on improving the efficacy of nucleotide-based drugs against prostate cancer and related-bone growths.

Liposomes, if integrated with the iRGD peptide, may help concentrate antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) into primary prostate tumors and its bone metastases, as per the study Published in the Advanced Functional Materials.

Researchers also investigated whether this system helps more drugs across the vessel wall and deeply into the tumor tissue.

‘The ability of ASOs to inhibit the growth of primary tumors and bone metastases was enhanced by iRGD-liposomes.’
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Although nucleotide drugs offer advantages in treating tumors and other diseases, they often suffer from a poor efficiency of crossing the blood vessels and entering the tumor tissue, where their targets reside. This problem greatly limits their clinical applicability and efficacy.

"Our system demonstrates a good ability to deliver more ASOs into both primary tumor tissue and bone metastases -- which is the primary site for prostate cancer metastasis," said Pang, an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy and a member of the Masonic Cancer Center.

"This further translates into a significant improvement of ASO efficacy to inhibit the growth of primary tumor and bone metastases. We expect this system to become a universal carrier system, to improve the clinical efficacy of ASOs and other nucleotide drugs."

Drugs for Prostate Cancer - Treatment, Side Effects & Precautions
Prostate cancer is the main cause of cancer death in men. One of the treatment method includes prescribing chemotherapeutic or hormonal drugs. These are prescribed depending on the type and stage of cancer.

Findings of the study:

iRGD-liposomes can raise the tumor accumulation and vascular/tissue penetration of ASOs against the disease-driving gene of prostate cancer;

the ability of ASOs to inhibit the growth of both primary tumors and bone metastases was significantly enhanced by iRGD-liposomes;

and, a long-term tumor inhibition study was also performed, showing that iRGD-liposomes significantly prolongs the AR-ASO suppression of primary tumor growth.

Pang and his team say that iRGD-liposomes are proven as a desirable delivery system for ASOs, and hold the promise to improve the clinical efficacy of nucleotide drugs in cancer therapies.

Source-Medindia