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Volume 7, Issue 2 (Suppl) J Biotechnol Biomater
ISSN: 2155-952X JBTBM, an open access journal Biomaterials 2017
March 27-28, 2017
2nd Annual Conference and Expo on
March 27-28, 2017 Madrid, Spain
Two stage, dual action cancer therapy with targeted porous silicon nanoparticles
Anna Cifuentes-Rius1, Angela Ivask 2 and Nicolas H Voelcker1
1Monash University, Parkville campus, Australia
2National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Estonia
Despite the advances in developing efficient chemotherapy drugs, their efficacy may be diminished by the predisposition of some
tumors to drug resistance and non-specific toxicity. Nanomedicine offers the possibility of tackling these key clinical challenges,
by designing target delivery platforms for a combination of cancer therapies. To overcome drug resistance, we explore the synergy of
hyperthermia with conventional chemotherapy. Due to the higher susceptibility of cancer cells to elevated temperatures compared
to healthy cells, hyperthermia stimulates the uptake of anticancer drugs in tumor cells. Thus, nanoparticle (NP)-based delivery
systems combining hyperthermia with traditional chemotherapeutics may afford the efficient treatment of highly drug-resistant
tumors. Additionally, NP vectorization of therapeutics by actively targeting membrane receptors overexpressed in cancer cells has
been recently suggested as a way to ensure selective delivery and improve therapeutic outcomes. Porous silicon (pSi) NPs are (i)
biodegradable, (ii) suitable for conjugation with moieties for targeting of a specific cell population, and (iii) exhibit efficient loading
of chemotherapy drugs. Here, we utilized these unique characteristics of pSiNPs and loaded them with multiple therapeutics while
also immobilizing cell-specific antibodies to achieve active targeting. We have developed antibody functionalized pSi NP loaded
with a combination of chemotherapy drug and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). By selective targeting, these nanocarriers were observed
to actively deliver both the chemotherapy drug and AuNCs to human B cells. The accumulation of AuNCs to target cells rendered
them more susceptible to the co-delivered chemotherapy drug when an external electromagnetic field in the microwave region was
applied. This approach represents a targeted two-stage delivery nanovector that takes advantage of dual therapeutic action in order
to enhance cytotoxicity.
Biography
Anna Cifuentes-Rius is an NHMRC Early Career Fellow at the Future Industries Institute and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and
Technology. She is working in the design of three-dimensional nanoarchitectures of bioresponsive nanoparticles, containing drugs and bioactives for a range of
therapeutic targets including cancer. Her interdisciplinary research is largely focused on the understanding of the biointerface of advanced bio and nano-materials
for the application in the emerging field of theranostics.
Anna Cifuentes-Rius et al, J Biotechnol Biomater 2017, 7:2 (Suppl)