Simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation treatment in solid tumours: A new platform to promote synergy and therapeutic efficacy with radiation triggered drug release

同时用药物和放射治疗癌症患者是非常有效的，甚至是治愈性的，但这两者结合起来， 治疗经常导致对正常组织的严重毒性，这阻止了治疗以全剂量使用。我们 因此，计划开发一个新的平台，使用放射治疗来确定药物何时何地起作用， 其细胞毒性作用仅限于肿瘤部位。含有药物的纳米胶囊将被设计成具有长时间的 循环时间，使它们有效地积累在肿瘤中。药物将被有效地捕获在每个胶囊中， 尽量减少随机毒性的可能性。然而，当肿瘤中的胶囊被照射时，来自肿瘤的能量被释放。 辐射将被转换成胶囊表面的局部加热。产生的热量会融化胶囊， 内容物将被释放，因此我们可以仅在肿瘤中获得高药物剂量;与使用相比， 传统的药物。一些药物（如铂类药物）使细胞更容易受到辐射，因此释放这些 放射治疗期间的药物会增强由于放射而导致的细胞杀伤。拟议的战略最终将允许 医生需要在对正常组织损伤最小的情况下获得最佳的药物和辐射剂量。反过来，患者将受益于 更有针对性的治疗，具有潜在的治愈性，毒副作用更少。拟议平台的设计， 由具有医疗经验的资深临床医生组成的多学科团队制作，测试和评估 以及在纳米技术、放射科学、肿瘤生物学、药物治疗和放射治疗领域具有丰富经验的研究科学家。 载体技术和其他实验疗法。与药物研究中心建立了密切的伙伴关系， 开发和Celator制药公司将确保该技术将达到其全面的制药和商业 潜力

Treating cancer patients with drugs and radiation at the same time is very effective and even curative, but this combined treatment often results in severe toxicities to normal tissues that prevent the treatments from being used at full doses. We therefore plan to develop a new platform that uses the radiation treatment to define where and when the drug will act so that its cytotoxic effects are confined to the tumour site. Nanoscale capsules containing drugs will be designed to have long circulation times so they accumulate effectively in the tumour. The drug will be efficiently trapped in each capsule to minimize the potential for random toxicities. However, when capsules in the tumour are irradiated, the energy from the radiation will be converted to local heating of the capsules surfaces. The heat generated will melt the capsule, and its drug contents will be released so we can attain high drug doses only in the tumour; up to 1000 times more in comparison to using the drug conventionally. Some drugs (e.g. platinum-based drugs) make cells more vulnerable to radiation so releasing these drugs during radiation treatment would enhance cell kill due to radiation. The proposed strategy would ultimately allow doctors to attain optimal drug and radiation doses with minimal damage to normal tissue. In turn, patients would benefit from more focused treatments that are potentially curative with fewer toxic side effects. The proposed platform will be designed, produced, tested and evaluated by a purpose-formed multidisciplinary team of senior clinicians with experience in medical and radiation oncology, and research scientists with experience in nanotechnology, radiation sciences, tumour biology, drug carrier technologies and other experimental therapeutics. A close partnership with The Centre for Drug Research and Development and Celator Pharmaceuticals will ensure that the technology will reach its full pharmaceutical and commercial potential.