Sprayable gel developed by UCLA-led team could help the body fight off cancer after surgery

Many people who are diagnosed with cancer will undergo some type of surgery to treat their disease — almost 95 percent of people with early-diagnosed breast cancer will require surgery and it’s often the first line of treatment for people with brain tumors, for example. But despite improvements in surgical techniques over the past decade, the cancer often comes back after the procedure.Now, a UCLA-led research team has developed a spray gel embedded with immune-boosting drugs that could help. In a peer-reviewed study, the substance was successful half of the time in awakening lab animals ’ immune systems to stop the cancer from recurring and inhibit it from spreading to other parts of the body.Apaper describing the work was published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.The researchers, led by Zhen Gu, a professor of bioengineering at theUCLA Samueli School of Engineering and member of theJonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, tested the biodegradable spray gel in mice that had advanced melanoma tumors surgically removed. They found that the gel reduced the growth of the tumor cells that remained after surgery, which helped prevent  recurrences of the cancer: After receiving the treatment, 50 percent of the mice survived for at least 60 days without their tumors regrowing.The spray not only inhibited the recurrence of tumors from the area on the body where it was removed, but it also controlled the development of tumors in other parts of the body, said Gu, who is a...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news