A team of scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, both in the United States, has shown that “good cholesterol” can act as a special delivery vehicle for the destruction of cancer. Synthetic high-density lipoprotein (“good” cholesterol) nanoparticles can be loaded with small interfering RNA, which silence cancer-promoting genes. The method shrunk or destroyed ovarian cancer tumors in mice. According to Anil Sood, the study’s senior author and the director of Ovarian Cancer Research at MD Anderson, “RNA interference has great therapeutic potential but delivering it to cancer cells has been problematic. Combining siRNA with HDL provides an efficient way to get these molecules to their targets. This study has several important implications in the ability to fight certain cancers.” The new formulation alone reduced the size and number of tumors by 60 to 80 percent; combined with chemotherapy, reductions were above 90 percent. The next step for the team is to prepare for human clinical trials. Andras Lacko, professor of molecular biology and immunology at the UNT Health Science Center, said, “If we can knock out 70, 80 or 90 percent of tumors without drug accumulation in normal tissues in mice, it is likely that many cancer patients could benefit from this new type of treatment in the long run.” The article can be viewed online at the link below.
http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/news-releases/2011/-good-cholesterol-nanoparticles-seek-and-destroy-cancer-cells.html