Nanocell

The term nanocell refers to a drug delivery platform consisting of a polymer-bound chemotherapeutic drug combined with a lipid-bound anti-angiogenesis drug. Nanocells are currently being developed in the lab of Shiladitya Sengupta of MIT.

Theory

Angiogenesis, or the formation of new blood vessels, plays a major role in the development of a tumor. After a tumor has grown to about the size of a cubic millimeter, its core becomes hypoxic, and it begins to release growth factors to recruit new blood vessels that will supply it with oxygen. Inhibiting angiogenesis has been investigated as a means of preventing tumor growth but has not proven to be fully successful, for tumor cells cut off from the blood supply can eventually develop “reactive resistance” to hypoxia. These resistant cancer cells could be killed by chemotherapeutic drugs, but once the vasculature to the tumor has been cut off, there is no way for chemotherapy to be delivered. Nanotechnology offers a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs and anti-angiogenic drugs in the same vehicle so that as the blood supply is shut off, chemotherapy is present to prevent any hypoxia-resistant cells from proliferating.