Bengaluru :
An Indian scientist has claimed a breakthrough in reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy by creating a drug delivery system that will target only cancer cells and leave healthy cells unharmed.
The patented system – contained in a whole-body device called Cellular Focused Resonance Nano-Permeabilisation or Cellforn – says Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, can deliver chemotherapeutic molecules directly to the cancer cells. Dr Kumar, who has more than 30 inventions to his name, is the director and chief scientific officer at Bengaluru’s Centre for Advanced Research and Development.
Chemotherapy is one of the best options available for treating cancer but its severe side-effects are a separate battle. “Actually the cargo is good but the delivery is bad. That is where my team decided to intervene,” he said.
‘ Cellforn could make drugs 10 to 70 times more effective’
We decided to do something about the transportation and delivery system of molecular cancer treatment. Our work began in 2008 and now we have Cellforn,” Kumar said.
Cellforn creates temporary nano pores that can receive drugs, allowing delivery to the cell membrane of the cancer tissue, identified with pretreatment proton density evaluations. “All drugs contain hydrogen atoms that bond with other molecules. The nucleus of the hydrogen atoms (containing only protons) in the drug are like bar magnets, they have specific alignments. Tissues too have protons that have the same alignment as the drug. Cellforn reverses the alignment of the hydrogen protons in the tumour tissue, spins it opposite to that of the drug molecule, attracting it to the sensitized tumour tissue,” Kumar explained.
Simultaneously, Cellforn creates temporary receptors or holes induced by fast radio bursts(FRB) that is timed and delivered to target lesions. Concentrations of target drugs like carboplatin and paclitaxel, for example, are delivered based on their molecular weight. The whole body device that delivers the precisely planned FRB houses specialized antennae and delivery mechanisms.
“Almost the entire drug payload is delivered to the tumour, and minimal to the healthy tissue. Hence, there will be very little or no adverse side-effects,” he said.
Having got a US patent in April this year, Kumar claims his precision-targeted drug delivery system is market-ready. “A few regulatory formalities are still pending. I think we will go into production in nine months,” he said.
Kumar claimed that Cellforn could make drugs 10 to 70 times more effective as they can be highly localized and used in vivo (on tissues and organs inside the body) and noninvasively.
Cellforn also prevents the cancer tissue from developing immunity to the drug. “Cellforn also controls chromatin, a group of macromolecules that holds the genetic information within cells. Chromatin can make cancer cells resistant to treatment. But chemotherapy administered with Cellforn will not make the cancer tissue develop resistance to the cancer cytotoxic drug,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Bangalore News / by Chethan Kumar / TNN / November 26th, 2017