The University of Pennsylvania and Genisphere LLC formed a collaborative research agreement to study targeted nanotherapeutics. The collaboration between Genisphere, provider of the 3DNA drug delivery platform, and UPenn’s Theresa Busch, will utilize a breast cancer model to study photodynamic therapy.
Photosensitizing drugs are administered to patients prior to surgery, and then activated by visible light after the tumor tissue is removed, to destroy cancerous cells left behind. The delivery of PDT to the entire surgical field is essential, thus selective photosensitizer accumulation in diseased cells is necessary to avoid therapy-limiting damage to normal tissues.
“When used in the intraoperative setting, PDT provides for local treatment at the site of surgery and can be effective in eradicating undetected or unresectable tumor,” said Busch, a research associate professor of radiation oncology. “This concept is suggested by patient outcomes in our previous clinical trials of intraoperative PDT for malignant pleural mesothelioma, and we are currently conducting a randomized phase II clinical trial for this indication.
“This approach can be adapted for intraoperative PDT of breast cancer; however, the addition of a photosensitizer that is targeted to breast cancer cells could broaden the therapeutic window and selectively increase cytotoxic effect.”
