Abstract B04: Systemic delivery of silver nanoparticles and targeting of the folate receptor alpha for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks expression of the estrogen and progesterone receptors and does not overexpress the HER-2 receptor. Thus, current targeted therapies are rendered ineffective against this subtype of breast cancer, leaving a gap in treatment options for these patients. The use of nanotechnology has the potential to dramatically enhance the way cancer is diagnosed and treated. However, concerns persist about the toxicity of nanomaterials, which may not degrade, or are only slowly degraded and excreted after long body residence time. For clinical translation to become a reality, the potential risk–benefit balance for these materials must be resolved. We recently identified that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have the capacity to act as a single, self-therapeutic agent with a desirable combination of selective cytotoxicity and radiation dose enhancement effects in TNBC cells in vitro and in vivo at doses that that are non-toxic to non-cancerous breast and other cells. This is the first time any nanomaterial has been demonstrated to possess a TNBC specific toxicity profile and provides evidence that a therapeutic window exists for the safe use of AgNPs. Our current studies focus on determining the properties of the nanomaterial that are important to retain or enhance this TNBC selective response. Nanoparticle size and aggregation can have a dramatic effect on the cytotoxic and tumor targeting properties of nanomaterials. We used AgNP preparations with ...
Source: Molecular Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Targeted Therapies: Poster Presentations - Proffered Abstracts Source Type: research