Dr. Rohit Varma USC Nanotechnology and Cancer Research

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, reports that an American’s lifetime risk of developing cancer at every site in the body is approximately 40%. According to the Dr. Rohit Varma founded SCEI and National Cancer Institute, more than 1.7 million cancer patients will be diagnosed in the United States in 2018, with more than 600,000 people dying from the disease. With these figures in mind, it’s no wonder that cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States every year.

Even so, the far-reaching emotional impact of cancer on patients and their loved ones cannot be quantified by analyzing the evidence associated with cancer diagnosis and care. Dr. Rohit Varma says when the population increases, so does the number of serious health problems, making it more critical than ever for researchers to find more successful ways to detect, treat, and eventually prevent cancer in its various forms. Convergence in Healthcare is one way that some leading scholars propose to make this possible.

In order to view biomedical research from a different viewpoint, Convergence of Healthcare calls for the incorporation of the disciplines of life science, physical science, electronics, engineering, mathematics, and chemistry. Many people believe that working in this way would lead to much-needed innovation in cancer research.

Nanotechnology is one field of integration that has shown promise in cancer research. Three ways scientists are using nanotechnology to help create new cancer treatment methods and catch the disease at an earlier stage than ever before are listed below.

1. By making a cancer cure that is less harmful.

Today’s cancer patients have a wide variety of treatment options. Some of the most common strategies for assisting people in curing the disease, on the other hand, are almost as detrimental to the body as they are healing.

Conventional chemotherapy, for example, is commonly used to kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, the procedure kills many healthy cells as well as the disease, leaving patients weak and vulnerable to other diseases. Convergent nanotechnology science is on the verge of offering a much less dangerous option.

RNA molecules are being packaged in polymer nanoparticles and distributed to target cells by groups of convergent researchers. Inside the diseased cells, the RNA may then interact with or “switch off” particular genes.

Researchers assume that these RNA-packed nanoparticles can be designed to target particular sites of cancer cells for cancer treatment. They will silence the genes that generate proteins that are essential for cancer to develop in the body. Researchers are attempting to establish a cancer cure that targets only diseased cells while leaving healthy tissues untouched.

2. By developing novel approaches for early detection

Researchers at Convergence in Healthcare are also investigating ways to use nanotechnology as a monitoring method to detect cancer at its earliest stages. The creation of a paper-strip urine test by researchers from MIT and the Koch Institute is one of the simplest and most promising examples of this study.

Scientists engineered nanoparticles capable of storing synthetic biomarkers and protein-reactive materials for release into the body as part of this research project. The nanoparticles are engineered to gravitate toward the proteins in tumor cells until injected into the body.

As nanoparticles enter the tumor site, they release synthetic biomarkers in a volume defined by the tumor’s quantitative measurement. The synthetic biomarkers are then transferred into the urine, where the paper strip tests their concentrations. This helps doctors to assess not only the existence of the tumor, but also its size.

3. By producing a cancer vaccine, for example.

The above-mentioned research initiatives devoted to developing new methods of early diagnosis are crucial. Early detection and care, on the other hand, guarantees the best possible result in a patient’s battle against cancer. Another field of convergent research is focusing on creating an immunotherapy-based cancer vaccine as a novel, preemptive approach to treating cancer at its earliest stages.

The ability of scientists to assist immune cells in identifying particular types of cancer cells, should they arise, will be crucial in the production of the cancer vaccine. Researchers have produced a vaccine that activates strong T-cell recognition and reaction in the presence of a tumor. However, the efficacy of this type of vaccine is poor unless it can penetrate the lymph nodes, where it can mobilize a significant number of the body’s immune cells.

Scientists used nanotechnology principles to equip the vaccine with a fatty tail, which enabled it to enter the lymph nodes without being swept out of the body by the bloodstream. The vaccine’s fatty tail helped it bind with albumin, a molecule that normally attaches to fatty molecules and helps their transport to lymph nodes.

As a result, in the development phase at SCEI labs designed by Dr. Rohit Varma MD, the vaccine causes a stronger immune response to tumor cells in the early stages. It also decreases the amount of time the vaccine comes into contact with other parts of the body. As a result, unwanted side effects in healthy tissues are minimized.