Personalised drugs – the future of cancer treatment?
ChemSci Pick of the Week
A self-powered biosensor could detect cancer cells, treat them, and evaluate how well the treatment has worked in real time, providing a quick and easy way to refine treatment methods – this could one day allow us to develop personalised cancer treatments.
Dr Jun-Jie Zhu and his team at Nanjing University in China carry out research into the diagnosis and treatment of different types of cancer. They have developed a platform that can perform diagnosis, therapy, and evaluation all in one.
The device is made from tiny fuel cells, which are powered by glucose and oxygen. Glucose and oxygen are readily available in the body, meaning that when the device is used in a living organism it can power itself.
Each electrode of the fuel cell performs a different function. The anode (positive electrode) carries a component that can detect miRNA-125a – a biomarker that indicates the presence of a type of leukemia. When the anode detects the biomarker, it releases an anticancer drug, which goes on to kills the cancer cells.
Meanwhile, the cathode (negative electrode) detects the treated cancer cells, and confirms that the treatment has worked. The device gives off a signal when it detects treated cancer cells, so an observer is able to follow the progress of the treatment.
So far the device is only suitable for us in the lab, rather than in the body. However this is still very useful as it allows scientists to test different cancer drugs on different types of cancer. In theory this could one day allow us to develop personalised drugs for individuals based on their specific type of cancer. Not only that but the authors hope that one day it will be possible to plant a device like this into humans, allowing it to diagnose and treat cancer all in one – and feed back on how well the treatment is working.
This article is free to read in our open access, flagship journal Chemical Science: Linlin Wang et al., Chem. Sci., 2018, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04019B. You can access all of our ChemSci Picks in this article collection.
ChemSci Pick of the Week
Chemical Science is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and publishes findings of exceptional significance from across the chemical sciences. It is a global journal for the discovery and reporting of breakthroughs in basic chemical research, communicated to a worldwide audience without barriers, through open access. All article publication charges have been waived, meaning that the journal is free to read and free to publish.
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