The patent for a new generation nanoparticle for the treatment of breast cancer has just been granted in the United States of America (USA), which prevents the side effects associated with chemotherapy and also increases its therapeutic efficacy, developed by a team of researchers from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) and from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra (FFUC).
Registered under the name PEGASEMP™, this new nanoparticle is distinguished by its ability to not only kill cancer cells, but also the blood vessels that supply the tumor, thus preventing the spread of cancer in the body and preventing recurrences.
To easily understand the impact of this new therapeutic strategy to fight breast cancer, researchers João Nuno Moreira, Vera Moura and Sérgio Simões make the following analogy: «a TIR truck (nanoparticle), certificate of very sensitive merchandise (medicine), you have to make a very complex journey to a very specific destination (example video attached). This journey must be carried out in maximum safety, where no failures are allowed to reach your destination».
The “secret” to guarantee the safety and efficiency of the delivery of the goods to the indicated recipient, the researchers illustrate, “is in a highly sophisticated “GPS” formed by 4 essential components. Thus, the nanoparticle is coated with a polymer that makes it invisible to the body's defense system and, at the end of this polymer, we put the "keys" that allow opening only the "doors" of cancer cells and cells that line the blood vessels tumors. Upon entering its interior, the nanoparticle releases its contents as if it were a “grenade” (providing a large amount of drug in a short period of time) which, in addition to killing cancer cells, also destroys the tumor's blood vessels».
Of the various tests carried out on animals with human breast cancer, the “nanoparticle successfully fulfilled its mission, that is, it traveled throughout the organism until reaching the tumor, killing the responsible cells without causing toxicity in the other organs. It also revealed the ability to suppress tumor invasion», stress João Nuno Moreira, Vera Moura and Sérgio Simões.
With a view to extending this biotechnology to other types of cancer and placing it on the market, the researchers have already created a Spin-Off – the Treat U, Ltd., incubated at Biocant, in Cantanhede. A multidisciplinary team was formed that brings together the necessary skills for the design and development of nanotechnology-based platforms, determination of pharmacokinetic parameters, drug development, pharmacology, clinical trials and commercial development, fulfilling the requirements of the drug value chain (http://www.treatu.pt).
The new nanoparticle, which was developed in collaboration with the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Coimbra (IPO), the Faculty of Pharmacy of Lisbon and the Faculty of Medicine of Porto, was also approved by a project under the QREN – National Strategic Reference Framework , worth half a million euros.
The research carried out by the Coimbra team was recently recognized by the Portuguese Society of Senology (the medical specialty that studies breast diseases).
Author: Cristina Pinto
Press Office – University of Coimbra • Rectory
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