New drug delivery device 'could transform cancer treatment'

Date: Feb-06-2015 A new device that delivers cancer drugs directly into tumors without relying on

perfusion via the bloodstream, could increase life expectancy for patients with

pancreatic, breast and other solid cancers, say researchers.

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat surgically because usually the tumor is entwined with major organs.

The new device uses a method called "iontophoresis" where an electrical field drives

chemotherapy drugs directly into the tumor, preventing their growth, and in some cases,

even shrinking them, says the team from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel

Hill.

The electrical field is conveyed via electrodes either implanted internally -

for example to treat a pancreatic tumor - or applied externally to the skin - for example

to treat an underlying breast tumor.

The UNC researchers describe the iontophoretic device and how they tested it on human

pancreatic tumors grafted into mice and dogs, in the journal Science Translational

Medicine.

Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, however it is the fourth leading cause of

cancer-related death in the US where estimates suggest in 2014 more than 46,000 people

were diagnosed with the disease and nearly 40,000 died of it.

Limits of current methods

The main reason three quarters of people who develop pancreatic cancer do not survive

more than 12 months after diagnosis - a statistic that has not changed in 40 years - is

because by the time the cancer is found, it is at an advanced stage and difficult to

treat.

Unfortunately, while surgery is the best option for curing pancreatic cancer, not many patients can have it because by the time their tumor is detected it has entwined itself with major organs and blood vessels.

Current ways of delivering chemotherapy are also limited because the

pancreatic cancer cells are well-protected by a fortress of tissue that impedes the

perfusion of drugs that could otherwise shrink the tumor or stop it growing.

Also, pancreatic cancer tumors do not have a good blood supply, thus limiting the

effectiveness of drug delivery via the bloodstream. Increasing the dose is not an option

because it increases toxicity to the rest of the body.

The new device delivered drugs into tumors more effectively than IV

In their study, the team showed that the iontophoretic device delivered chemotherapy drugs into

the tumors much more effectively than the conventional intravenous (IV) method, and also

achieved higher concentrations of the drugs in the tumor without increasing toxicity to

the rest of the body.

For example, noting the result of one test, the authors write:

"Device delivery of gemcitabine in dogs resulted in more than 7-fold

difference in local drug concentrations and 25-fold lower systemic drug levels than the

IV treatment."

Co-author Jen Jen Yeh, associate professor of surgery and pharmacology in the School

of Medicine at UNC, says:

"Once this goes to clinical trials, it could shift the paradigm for pancreatic cancer

treatments - or any other solid tumors where standard IV chemotherapy drugs are hard to

get to."

Funds for the study came from the University Cancer Research Fund and the National

Institutes of Health.

In December 2014, Medical News Today learned of another development that

could be a game-changer for another group of patients with difficult cancers. Researchers

at the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a minimally invasive, robot-assisted procedure for treating head and neck tumors that

were previously inoperable.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.