Nanoparticles for drug delivery in cancer patients
Over the recent past, scientists have been developing solutions to effectively treat and control major diseases such as cancer. Their continuous research has seen developments in areas such as Nanomedicine which implements the use of nanotechnology to effectively treat patients. Nanoparticles are extremely tiny particles that are not visible to the human eye which can be manufactured and programmed to perform a given function. They can access very small openings of the human tissue with the least side effects. Further advancements in scientific research have seen fruitful developments in the treatment of cancer patients. An attempt has been made to describe the use of Nanomedicine to deliver drugs to patients with cancer.
Nanomedicine uses nanoparticles that are developed as therapeutic carriers to carry the drug elements to a specific targeted area of a tumor with enhanced permeability and retention effect (Leuschner et al. 120).Chemotherapy would be much efficient if the drug had the capabilities of high permeability and could be retained in a certain targeted area for a longer time to achieve the desired results. Nanotechnology solves this problem hence makes them suitable for use as chemotherapeutic delivery mechanism.
Nanoparticles are being adopted for clinical practice based on their ability to increase drug concentration at the desired site of action, their improved solubility that allows for parenteral drug administration and constant rate of drug delivery which results in a zero order release of kinetics. They also provide increased drug stability whereby they reduce drug degradation consequently increasing their action and the half-life of the drugs. They are also adopted with an aim to ensure drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier and the blood cochlear barrier (Thassu et al.58).
Nanoparticles basically range in size from 1 to about 100 nm. Their unique physical structure and chemical composition allow them to be used as a drug delivery mechanism by conjugating them with other drugs. This unique structural and chemical composition gives them a number of advantages when used as a mechanism for drug delivery. Cancer drugs used in chemotherapy have a number of side effects that render them very dangerous to use. For instance, they have a high toxicity level which creates a barrier to treatment. This high level of toxicity where the side effects resulting from using such drugs are high forces doctors to limit the amount of dosage administered to the patients.
Once administered, cancer drugs such as cytotoxic drugs act indiscriminately attacking both healthy tissue and the infected tissue (Leuschner et al. 150). The results commonly known as side effects when the cancer drugs attack the healthy tissue include for instance hair loss from the body parts such as the head. The patient also suffers from small clinical complications such as nausea and can potentially develop into more advanced and serious conditions such as kidney failure, neutropenia, and neuropathies. Even though the drugs are effective in treating the cancer, this disadvantage causes them to reduce the rate at which a patient could be cured.
Advancements in Nano medicine has helped improve the efficiency of chemotherapy. Using nanoparticles, the drugs can be directed to target a specific and more precise location of the human body which is infected. This reduces the side effects and also increases the effectiveness of small dosage. The ideal delivery system ensures the conjugated compound arrives and acts preferentially at the selected target of infection. Targeting is done either actively or passively. Active targeting allows the conjugated compound to incorporate a ligand that is specific for the receptor of the tissue being targeted. On the other hand, the passive targeting mode allows the complexes to diffuse and accumulate at the tumor sites and tissues that have inflammations while limiting the permeability of the normal endothelium.
For subsequent purposes, this is done by extravasation of the complexes via Para cellular method or transcytosis. Trancytosis is whereby the macromolecules are internalized from the blood at specific points known as points of invagination of the cell membrane. Para cellular method is done by diffusion of the drugs through endothelial cell junctions. This method creates an imbalance in the factors that regulate the angiogenesis such as the over expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (Thassu et al. 54). The result is an improved rate of permeability and a malfunctioned tumor vessel architecture which when combined result in enhanced permeation and retention capability. When drugs are administered using this method, it implies that they will be more concentrated at one point and their further diffusion to other body parts would be limited. This basically creates a high local concentration for the drug which improves treatment efficiency.
Once, they have been absorbed and served their purpose, the drug complex constituents are degraded, metabolized and cleared according to their sizes. The smaller particles are cleared via renal excretion, while the Nano carriers themselves are cleared using the mononuclear phagocytic systems which are made up of macrophages found in the liver and spleen.
However, even though nanotechnology is an efficient cancer drug delivery mechanism, It is generally difficult to determine the efficiency and toxicity of Nano medicines when applied in different people with different biological phenotypes such as the sex, age and other genetic characteristics (Jain33). This is due to the high variability in the endothelial fenestra size which affects the rate of clearance of the Nano carriers.
A lot of experimental evidence depicts more potential for the use of nanoparticles in cancer treatment. Their main attractive property include their biocompatibility, biodegradability which implies low toxicity levels, their low clearance rates and their ability to exclusively target specific tissue tumors coupled with their ability to control the release of drugs from the conjugate complex. These advantages are numerous and heavily outnumber conventional chemotherapy practice. As a new technology, there is still a lot of research underway to identify the full potential of this technology as it still needs to be evaluated. Areas of major interest include the Nano toxicity with more focus on their impact when exposed over a long period of time with to humans.
In summary, nanoparticles have more advantages and prove to be an efficient way to administer cancer drugs. It is a flexible technology with a high precision and accuracy, a property that would revolutionize the manner in which cancer ailments are treated. This technology has however not been utilized to the maximum as it requires more research into the toxicity levels over a longer period of time. As a new technology, the program is still on the verge of spreading for use by medical institutions worldwide. New and risk-free avenues would be developed for the treatment of cancer and cancer-related illnesses while at the same time reducing the high cost associated with administering chemotherapy.
Works Cited
Leuschner, Carola, and Challa S. S. R. Kumar. “Nanoparticles for Cancer Drug Delivery.” (2005): 289-326. Print.
Solid Lipid Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy. International Journal of Drug Delivery, 2011. Internet resource.
Mishra, Ajay K. Nanomedicine for Drug Delivery and Therapeutics. , 2013. Internet resource.
Thassu, Deepak, Michel Deleers, and Yashwant Pathak. Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems. New York: Informa Healthcare, 2007. Print.
Jain, K K. Drug Delivery Systems. Totowa, NJ: Humana, 2008. Print.
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