PERSEUS --- 2D Material-Based Multiple Oncotherapy Against Metastatic Disease Using a Radically New Computed Tomography Approach

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PERSEUS is developing a novel nanotechnology-based cancer treatment for deep-seated, clinically unmanageable, drug-resistant, and metastatic tumours. Practical use of nanotechnology in clinical cancer care is still in its infancy, its full potential yet to be realised. The treatment is based on a novel nano-system (NS) made of multifunctional 2D-layered nanocrystals. The NS enables, under activation by computed tomography (CT) X-rays, an effective multimodal therapy with minimal or no adverse effects. This novel paradigm uses CT X-rays not to eradicate cancer, but to trigger and to image the NS that locally activates non-mutagenic oncolytic mechanisms. The therapeutic effect is due to the conversion of low energy X-rays from CT scanners into heat, reactive oxygen species, and radiosensitising agents. X-ray irradiation can also induce immunogenic cell death with the exposure or release of neo-antigens to trigger an anti-cancer immune response. The use of X-rays makes it possible to reach deep-seated tumours that are inaccessible by visible or near-infrared light-based therapies. In other words, CT is the spark that lights the match. This is a radical vision for an ambitious and high-risk project. The project targets a range of cancer types, including metastatic triple negative breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The NS is biocompatible and also totally inactive in the absence of CT radiation, i.e. the NS becomes active only where the CT beam is delivered, hence minimising side effects at distal sites. The therapy is agnostic to the type of cancer and to gender incidence because it doesn't affect the body biochemistry. This is a second change of paradigm. The vision behind PERSEUS is pursued by a multidisciplinary team composed of physicists, chemists, chemical engineers, biologists, physicians, pharmacologists, and radiologists, working together to develop an innovative nanotechnological approach to address unmet clinical needs.