Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment using nanotechnology

The development of nanoparticles in the realm of nanotechnology has increased. The benefits and evaluation of its biological applicability in breast cancer screening. This comes after the failure of the conventional methods of breast cancer screening. Numerous nanoparticles, including fluorescent nanoparticles, have been employed in the detection and treatment of cancer. Nanotechnology is also crucial for finding tumor biomarkers early on. In this study, the adoption of nanotechnology in the detection and treatment of breast cancer as well as the development of its effectiveness are being investigated. Breast cancer is the most common among women and the second leading cause of all cancer deaths among women3. There are very high chances of developing cancer in a woman's life. The chances stand between 1 in 8. Studies approximates that 1 in 35 women will die of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, 192,378 new cases of breast cancer, and 62,280 new carcinoma in situ cases, 40,170 breast cancer deaths are estimated to occur annually. According to the same institution, on a yearly basis, 1,990 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men are equally estimated to occur annually. Worldwide, 1.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and out of them all, 465,000 will die after the diagnosis from breast cancer. These are just some of the few facts about breast cancer according to the American Cancer Society11.
Effective diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer should follow a path of early detection, and use of advanced technology to treat the disease. Early detection of breast cancer involves regular self-examination of the breasts, mammogram screening, biopsy and use of MRI in high-risk women. The most effective treatment of cancer according to the American Cancer Society is surgery as this method eliminated the entire tumor containing the cancer cells5. Postoperative radiation to help with the treatment of possible residual tumor cells in the lymph nodes and the chest have also been used to eradicate the cancer. Other means of treatment are systemic treatment for metastatic invasive breast cancer, hormonal therapy and the use of chemotherapy. Targeted therapies that uses Herceptin, Tarceva and Lapatinib that acts as inhibitor of growth factor receptor signaling have also been embraced in the breast cancer treatment8.
The diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been of great importance because of the increasing occurrence of the disease. Breast cancer is the highest contributor of most deaths in women due to its recurrence after treatment15. Distinct biological portraits of cancer of the breast have been characterized by biomolecular profiles, clinical courses and behaviors that have led to the definition of breast cancer as a heterogeneous disease. Because of the heterogeneous nature of the breast cancer, targeted therapy is considered ideal for its diagnosis and treatment. Breast cancer forms part of the major cancer claiming he live of many in the US. This type of cancer is also feared due to its possibility of recurrences. Most cancers including breast cancer are able to recur over a period of time after surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy9.
Body of Review
The survival of breast cancer and any other form of cancer depends on the early detection. Development of new technologies to help with the early detection of cancer is inevitable. The currently widely used methods for the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer ad other forms of cancer include mammography, fine needle aspiration followed by cytological examination of the specimen, CT scans, MRI and use of X-rays. These are traditional diagnostic methods and not very powerful in the early detection of cancer. Due to the unreliability of these traditional methods of diagnosis, the development of new technology that is specific and reliable for the early detection of breast cancer is needed. Such development of technology will function as the first line in the diagnosis of cancer of the breast and other forms of cancer12.
Biomarkers are indicators of the biological state of a disease. They forms the characteristic specific to a disease hence used in studying processes at the cellular level. Biomarkers are able to detect, recognize and monitor the disruptions caused by the cancer cells in cellular processes. Results of biomarkers are essential as they can help scientist to understand the underlying mechanisms from the point a disease is initiated, the aggravation process of the disease and ultimately provide a diagnostic solution for a disease. Biomarkers are also important in formulation of treatment strategies at the right time. Biomarkers can be proteins, fragments of proteins that are either DNA or RNA based. Cancer biomarkers are an indication of cancer and are helpful in the early detection of cancer of any form. The relationship between biomarkers and nanotechnology has led to wide developments in research to find highly advanced technological solution for the early detection and treatment of cancer1.
Nanotechnology is the use of extremely small particles in the diagnosis of cancer. There has been extensive research in nanotechnology and the properties of nonmaterial are being explored. Nanomaterials are considered viable for the detection of biomarkers and their ability to sense cancer biomarkers evaluated, explored and tried. Various nanoparticles ranging from quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, nanowires, carbon nanoparticles and magnetic nanoparticles are being applied in sensing cancer biomarkers2.
Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to diagnose, treat, monitor and control biological system such as the emergence of breast cancer. Nanoparticles used in this regards acts as biological mimetics functionalized carbon nanotubes. Nanomachines, nanofibres, polymetric nanostructures and nanoscale microfibrication-based devices such as silicon microchips used to release drugs into tumor cells, micromachined hollow needles and nanosensors are used in nanotechnological diagnosis and treatment cancer4.
There are exciting possibilities in the use of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Nanotechnology has the potential to destroy cancer tumors. This technology has minimal damage to the healthy calls, tissues and organs. Use of nanotechnology has the possibility of detecting and eliminating cancer cells before they can form tumors. The Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer is at the epitome of advancing research and development of nanotechnology. In addition to such institution of research, various research companies and universities worldwide are working on the idea of nanotechnology6.
New injectable nanoparticles generating technology has been developed and tested by researcher. This technology is capable of delivering doxorubicin, which is a common chemotherapeutic drug into the nucleus of cells of the metastatic breast cancer. This operation is done with high level of effectiveness and is demand more significant than the normal chemotherapy. The effectiveness of various drugs that are chemotherapy targeted often face limitation in terms of biological barriers protecting the cancer cells. Such barriers include tumor blood vessel walls, molecular pumps located in the cell membranes, which often produce toxic substances. In chemotherapy, it is reported that only a small percentage of drugs used reach the cancer cells while the remaining large percentage remain the healthy cells and tissues hence enabling the cancer cells to evade the effect of treatment and enable its recurrence as well7.
In order to increase the potency of breast cancer treatment drugs and reduce the chances of progression of cancer cells and resistance reduction, nanotechnology-based therapy has been developed by researchers. This development is known as injectable nanoparticles generator (iNPG). This technology is able to transport a drug through the vasculature of the tumor directly into the nucleus of the tumor cells10.
The drug transport nanotechnology acts as a mother ship whereby the doxorubicin containing particles, also known as pDox are attached onto it. The pDox are structurally long chains. Due to their shape, size and structure, the particles of iNPG can be shuttled and accumulated into the liver and lungs, which, acts as the primary metastasis sites for breast cancer.
Once the tumor vasculature receives the nanoparticles from the iNPG, the nanoparticles are released by the pDox from the nanopores of the iNPG. This makes them resemble the small membrane bound sacs that are exchanged by the cells known as exosomes. The ability of the nanoparticles to disguise the exosomes allows the tumor cells to take up the drugs and evade their efflux pumps. The pDox particles get their way inside the tumor cells, they are able to navigate to the vesicles that are close to the tumor cell organelles such as the nucleus. In the nucleus, the drug builds up a high pH that causes the doxorubicin to detach and eventually kill the cancer cells in the tumor. The placemen of the pDox into the iNPG enables the drug to move past the biological barriers that most often blocks the cancer drugs from getting and accumulating into the tumor cells. The biological barriers simply divert the cancer drugs to non-target organs and prevent the drug from leaving the circulation in order to reach the tumor microenvironment13.
One of the most widely used drugs in chemotherapy is doxorubicin. This drug is mostly used in treating breast cancer, sarcomas, ovarian cancers and other forms of cancer. However, this drug has some negative side effects as it can lead to the damaging of the heart and this calls for proper regulation of its use in the treatment process to avoid the development of cardiac complications14.
The above experiment has been conducted on the mouse suffering from metastatic breast cancer. From the experiment, half the mice were able to successfully complete the process and lived cancer free after the as long as their healthy counterparts. After the experiment, the mice that were treated with liposomal doxorubicin or with standard doxorubicin died from the metastatic breast cancer after some time compared to the once that used nanotechnology. This experiment is an optimistic indication that indeed cancer treatment can be effective and should by no doubt be embraced.
Nanotechnology Cancer Treatments under Development
There are various cancer treatments under development. These developments target specifically the tumor cells with an objective to kill the cancer cells. One of such development is a targeted chemotherapy technique that helps in the delivery of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF), a tumor-killing agent that targets and destroys the cancer cells. This agent is attached along with Thiol-derivatized polyethene glycol (PEG-THIOL) into a gold nanoparticles1. The PEG-THIOL is essential in this process as it helps the evasion of the nanoparticle containing the TNF from immune system attack.
Another development targeting chemotherapy treatment that is under development is that which destroys the cancer cells by use of heat. Nanoparticles known as AuroShells absorbs the laser's infrared light and turn the light into heat used to kill the cancer cells in the tumor. Also, researchers at IBM ad Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have developed a sustained drug delivery by the use of hydrogel. This hydrogel in injected into the skin it allows a continuous releases of drugs for a long period of time with just one injection. This development is important as it reduces the incidence of multiple injections during treatment. Injecting the hydrogel under the skin of laboratory mice had done this experiment and it showed a significant reduction in the size of the tumor size in a matter of weeks10.
BIND Biosciences have also developed a nanotechnology that uses targeted chemotherapy by use of polymer nanoparticles that carries docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug, into the tumor cancer cells. This polymer is targeted and attracted by a protein that is common in most cancer tumors. Also, nanoparticles that carry camptothecin, a chemotherapy drug along with herceptin antibody are being developed to help in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer13.
Advantages of Nanoparticle Formulated Drugs
Drugs formulated by nanotechnology come with several advantages. Such drugs increase their solubility and bioavailability. They also have a high capacity for transporting drug molecules in single or multiple drugs. Nanoparticle formulated drugs prevents the inactivation and clearance of the drug by the immune system. They also improve the delivery trough passive and active targeting. These drugs have the potential of lowering systemic toxicity as seen in the traditional chemotherapy techniques. Nanotechnology is therefore the most effective and efficient means for the treatment and diagnosis of breast cancer and other related forms of cancer13.
Conclusion
Breast cancer is the most common among women and the second leading cause of all cancer deaths among women. There are very high chances of developing cancer in a woman's life. The chances stand between 1 in 8. Studies approximates that 1 in 35 women will die of breast cancer. Development of new technologies to help with the early detection of cancer is inevitable. The currently widely used methods for the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer ad other forms of cancer include mammography, fine needle aspiration followed by cytological examination of the specimen, CT scans, MRI and use of X-rays. These are traditional diagnostic methods and not very powerful in the early detection of cancer. Due to the unreliability of theses traditional methods of diagnosis, the development of new technology that is specific and reliable for the early detection of breast cancer is needed. Nanotechnology is the use of extremely small particles in the diagnosis of cancer. There has been extensive research in nanotechnology and the properties of nanomaterials are being explored. Nanomaterials re considered viable for the detection of biomarkers and their ability to sense cancer biomarkers evaluated, explored and tried. Drugs formulated by nanotechnology come with several advantages that are essential for the eradication of breast cancer hence should be the priority of cancer research.








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