(February 2, 2016) Engineers
at Washington University in St. Louis found a way to keep a cancerous tumor
from growing by using nanoparticles of the main ingredient in common antacid
tablets.
The research team, led by Avik Som, an MD/PhD student, and
Samuel Achilefu, PhD, professor of radiology and of biochemistry &
molecular biophysics in the School of Medicine and of biomedical engineering in
the School of Engineering & Applied Science, in collaboration with two labs
in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, used two novel methods to
create nanoparticles from calcium carbonate that were injected intravenously
into a mouse model to treat solid tumors. The compound changed the pH of the
tumor environment, from acidic to more alkaline, and kept the cancer from
growing.
With this work, researchers showed for the first time that
they can modulate pH in solid tumors using intentionally designed
nanoparticles. Results of the research were recently published online in
Nanoscale.
“Cancer kills because of metastasis,” said Som, who is
working on a doctorate in biomedical engineering in addition to a medical
degree. “The pH of a tumor has been heavily correlated with metastasis. For a
cancer cell to get out of the extracellular matrix, or the cells around it, one
of the methods it uses is a decreased pH.”