Abstract
The most common cancer treatments currently available are radio- and chemo-therapy. These therapies have, however, drawbacks, such as, the reduction in quality of life and the low efficiency of radiotherapy in cases of multiple metastases. To lessen these effects, we have encapsulated an anti-cancer drug into a biocompatible matrix. In-vitro assays indicate that this bio-nanocomposite is able to interact and cause morphological changes in cancer cells. Meanwhile, no alterations were observed in monocytes and fibroblasts, indicating that this system might carry the drug in living organisms with reduced clearance rate and toxicity. X-rays and neutrons were used to investigate the carrier structure, as well as to assess the drug mobility within the bio-nanocomposite. From these unique data we show that partial mobility restriction of active groups of the drug molecule suggests why this carrier design is potentially safer to healthy cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 22478 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work has benefited from the use of the Manuel Lujan, Jr. Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory and funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is operated by Los Alamos National Security LLC under DOE contract DE-AC52-06NA25396. MLM and RI thank the Swiss Light Source for beamtime at PolLux, which is financed by the German Minister für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) through contracts 05KS4WE1/6 and 05KS7WE1.The authors thank FAPESP, CNPq and DANSCATT for the financial support. JE would like to thank the Physics and Chemistry of Materials Group (T-1) at LANL for making computing resources available, and Dr. Jernej Stare for performing some calculations at the National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Dr. Walter Kalceff (UTS, Australia) is also gratefully acknowledged for critical review and discussions of this work.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Basic Energy Sciences | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC52-06NA25396 |
| Canadian Light Source | |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory | |
| Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo | |
| Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | 05KS4WE1/6, 05KS7WE1 |
| Eidgenössischen Departement für Wirtschaft, Bildung und Forschung | |
| Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico | |
| DanScatt |
