Raji Sundararajan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.

*Corresponding Author

Raji Sundararajan
Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology,
Purdue University,West Lafayette,
IN 47907-2021, USA.
E-Mail: rsundara@purdue.edu

Article Type: Editorial
Received: October 10, 2012; Published:November 20, 2012;

Citation: Sundararajan R. (2012). Nanotechnology-Based Cancer Treatments. Int J Nano Stud Technol, 1(1e), 1. doi: dx.doi.org/10.19070/2167-8685-120001e

Copyright: Sundararajan R© 2012. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Nanoparticles, nanosecond pulses and other nanotechnolgy based systems could help enhance the efficacy of cancer therapies. For example, high intensity, nanosecond pulses have been used for prostate cancer treatments, without any drug and they have also been used with chemo drugs.Nanoparticles are used to upload varius genes and drugs using several methods, including electroporation. Many nanopartciles and nano-sized materials are utilized in clinical studies in medical oncology, including breast cancer. Doxil and Abraxane are FDA approved nanoformulations currently available in the market for cancer treatment. Doxil is a long circulating liposomal formulation of the anticancer drug doxorubicin,which has shown significant improvements over its traditional counterpart doxorubicin. Abraxane is used for metastatic breast cancer. It is an albu -min-bound nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel. The injectionable form evades the hypersensitivity reaction associated with the solvent (Cremophor EL) used for paclitaxel. Abraxane nanopartcile of 100nm size and has the ability to convert insoluble or poorly soluble drugs, avoiding the use of toxic solvents. The attractive benefit of nanoparticles is their greater surface area for a given volume. Because reactions occur on the surface of a chemical substance, the greater the surface area the greater the reactivity. As particles becomes smaller in size, their surface area/volume ratio increases more and extend the benefits. Nanoparticles could be engineered to have surface modifications or be conjugated with folate, antibodies, adjuvants, ligands, antigens, enzymes, pH-sensitive agents, and other substances. Nanoparticles including gold and mag -netic ones, could also be uploaded using electrical pulses of parameters, 1200V/cm, 100µs to 200V/cm, 20-40ms. By varying the number of pulses and the interval between the pulses or pulse trains, and with and without drugs, it is possible to enhance nanopartilce or nanomolecular uptake compared to the conventional uptake (known as reversible and irreversible techniques) up to 1000x. The delivery of nanoparticles depend on the physic-chemical factors, including the particle size, surface charge, protein absorption ability, surface hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity, drug loading and relative kinetics,stability, degradation of carrier systems, hydration behavior, electrophoretic mobility, porosity, specific surface characteristics, density, and crystallinity. In addition, it also depends on the dose and the admin -istration routes (oral or parenteral, including delivery routés such as intravenous, pulmonary, transdermal and ocular, in the case of in vivo). Electrical pulse-mediated nanoparticles is a less conventional one, but has promising potential when applicable. Also, for biomedical application, their toxicity is an impor-tant concern and they should be stable at room tem -peratures in water or at neutral pH, they should not aggregate, and should be biocompatible. Their sur-face coating should be physiologically well tolerated.

Cytotoxicity limits the potential of high molecular weight cationic polymers in gene delivery. About 100 years ago, this realization in the western world led to the study of biochemical interactions; a ma -jor change in the prevailing paradigm used to explain cellular functions and disease progression. The phar-maceutical industry eventually became very successful in using chemicals to develop a series of drugs and transformed medicine into a huge multibillion business selling drugs. All the research dollars and effort are mostly directed towards understanding the chemistry of the body and developing drugs to alter that chemistry. Yet many biological questions remain unanswered as evidenced by the millions of cancer deaths worldwide each year and the number is only growing. It is clear that all questions of the body can -not be answered by chemistry (drugs) only and the biochemical processes do not explain the electrical functions and electrostatic forces and their interactions in cell regulations and hence in deadly diseases like cancer. Our body possesses electrical mechanisms and use charges and electricity to regulate and control the transduction of chemical energy and life processes. Hence, there is a critical need for alter-nate/additional therapies and nanotechnology could pave a way towards this and the combination of na -nosecond electrical pulses with (and without also) drugs offers other ways to treat some of the cancers that are refractory to the current standard of cure.

References

1. American Diabetes Association(2012) Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabe -tes Care 35 Suppl 1(S64-71.
2. Fatouros IG Mitrakou A (2012) 13 Obesity and Diabetes. Obesity: Prevention and Treatment 249.
3. Diabetes Fact Sheet Nº 312, 2012, World Health Organization.
4. Hamilton BE Ventura SJ (2006) Fertility and abortion rates in the United States, 1960-2002. International Journal of Andrology 29(1): 34-45.
5. Lutz W (2006) Fertility rates and future population trends: will Europe’s birth rate recover or continue to decline? International Journal of Andrology 29(1): 25-33.
6. Agbaje IM, Rogers DA, Mcvicar CM, Mcclure N, Atkinson AB, et al. (2007) Insulin dependant diabetes mellitus: implications for male reproductive function. Human Reproduction 22(7): 1871-7.
7. Silink M (2002) Childhood diabetes: a global perspective. Hor -mone Research 57 Suppl 1(1-5.
8. Kolodny RC, Kahn CB, Goldstein HH, Barnett DM (1974) Sexual dysfunction in diabetic men. Diabetes 23(4): 306-9.
9. Sexton WJ Jarow JP (1997) Effect of diabetes mellitus upon male reproductive function. Urology 49(4): 508-13.
10. Bourne RB, Kretzschmar WA, Esser JH (1971) Successful ar -tificial insemination in a diabetic with retrograde ejaculation. Fertility and Sterility 22(4): 275-7.
11. Fedele D (2005) Therapy Insight: sexual and bladder dysfunc -tion associated with diabetes mellitus. Nature Clinical Practice Urology 2(6): 282-90; quiz 309.
12. Bartak V, Josifko M, Horackova M (1975) Juvenile diabetes and human sperm quality. International Journal of Fertility 20(1): 30-2.
13. Bartak V (1979) Sperm quality in adult diabetic men. Interna -tional Journal of Fertility 24(4): 226-32.
14. Padron RS, Dambay A, Suarez R, Mas J (1984) Semen analyses in adolescent diabetic patients. Acta Diabetologica Latina 21(2): 115-21.
15. Ali ST, Shaikh RN, Siddiqi NA, Siddiqi PQ (1993) Semen analysis in insulin-dependent/non-insulin-dependent diabetic men with/without neuropathy. Archives of Andrology 30(1): 47-54.
16. Niven MJ, Hitman GA, Badenoch DF (1995) A study of sper-matozoal motility in type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic Medicine 12(10): 921-4.
17. Ranganathan P, Mahran AM, Hallak J, Agarwal A (2002) Sperm cryopreservation for men with nonmalignant, systemic diseases: a descriptive study. Journal of Andrology 23(1): 71-5.
18. Cameron DF, Murray FT, Drylie DD (1985) Interstitial com -partment pathology and spermatogenic disruption in testes from impo -tent diabetic men. Anatomical Record 213(1): 53-62.
19. Ding EL, Song Y, Malik VS, Liu S (2006) Sex differences of endogenous sex hormones and risk of type 2 diabetes. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association 295(11): 1288-1299.
20. Rato L, Alves MG, Socorro S, Carvalho RA, Cavaco JE, et al. (2012) Metabolic modulation induced by oestradiol and DHT in imma -ture rat Sertoli cells cultured in vitro. Bioscience Reports 32(1): 61-9.
21. Oliveira PF, Alves MG, Rato L, Silva J, Sa R, et al. (2011) In-fluence of 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone and 17beta-estradiol on human Sertoli cells metabolism. International Journal of Andrology 34(6 Pt 2): e612-20.
22. Rato L, Alves MG, Socorro S, Duarte AI, Cavaco JE, et al. (2012) Metabolic regulation is important for spermatogenesis. Nat Rev Urol 9(6): 330-8.
23. Alves MG, Rato L, Carvalho RA, Moreira PI, Socorro S, et al. (2013) Hormonal control of Sertoli cells metabolism regulates spermato -genesis. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences DOI: 10.1007/s00018-012-1079-1.
24. Oliveira PF, Alves MG, Rato L, Laurentino S, Silva J, et al. (2012) Effect of insulin deprivation on metabolism and metabolism-associated gene transcript levels of in vitro cultured human Sertoli cells. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta: Protein Structure and Molecular Enzy -mology 1820(2): 84-9.
25. Alves MG, Socorro S, Silva J, Barros A, Sousa M, et al. (2012) In vitro cultured human Sertoli cells secrete high amounts of acetate that is stimulated by 17beta-estradiol and suppressed by insulin deprivation. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research 1823(8): 1389-1394.
26. Jequier AM (2005) Is quality assurance in semen analysis still really necessary? A clinician’s viewpoint. Human Reproduction 20(8): 2039-42.