It’s Not Just a Nucleic Acid - Aptamer conjugates,Systemic delivery would be advantageous and provide more clinical appeal, in spite of the above mentioned limitations, and it is now becoming more common to link the RNAi to compounds, such as ligands or peptides to achieve target specificity and nuclease resistance, thereby eliminating some of the non-targeted effects (Bhindi et al 2007). Aptamers represent a unique alternative in the ability to specifically target cancer cells. Aptamers have been developed that target both extracellular protein ligands, as well as intracellular proteins. Those that target the extracellular domains of transmembrane receptor proteins can facilitate the entry of RNAi into cells via receptor mediated endocytosis (Fig 2(ii)) (Vorhies & Nemunaitis 2007, Syed & Pervaiz 2010). What makes aptamers such a perfect therapeutic is the difference between these and other nucleic acid therapeutics. Aptamers, by themselves, are not necessarily effective therapeutics per se. They can block their target function, and, if internalising aptamers are selected, they can prove to be much more effective as therapeutics through the direct conjugation of drugs or attaching nanoparticles as drug delivery devices. The choice of a suitable therapeutic target is governed by the need to target cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells intact. This is where both aptamers and RNAi come into their element. RNAi can be used to target disease-specific sequences within the cell, while the aptamer can guide the RNAi to the abnormal cell, thus minimising off-target effects. This also has benefits when considering the ability of RNAi to target the T3151 point mutation in Abl which promotes imatinib-resistance. Through the use of gene ...
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... and has recently awarded another $1.6 million to research the role of miRNAs in cancer, indicating this is a field of increasing research priority and relevance. Given the success of directed targeting with aptamers, and the success of non-targeting RNAi and ASOs, it is now time to start combining these nucleic acid therapeutics to achieve a more effective treatment. The problem of off-target effects can be circumnavigated by hiding non-specific nucleic acids inside nanoparticles which can be degraded once inside the cell to release their contents, or directly conjugating these to aptamers to reduce the off-target effects. Specific targeting will mean that nucleic acids that don’t specifically target a pathway related to malignancy, or that had severe off-target effects, can now get a second chance as therapeutic treatments. It may just take that one small step.,.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. 1990. Unconventional Cancer Treatments, OTA-H-405. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Thumbing through the pages of Business Week, the headline read Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer. Interested, I continued to read the short article. According to the reporter, Otis Port, researchers at California State University in Fresno say that they have isolated four substances in shark cartilage that appear to inhibit cancer (93). Curious, I continued to read the rest of the article. The chemicals block a mechanism discovered in the mid-1980s at Harvard University: Tumor cells secrete a protein called angiogenin that entices blood vessels to grow close to cancers and nourish them. The shark extracts counteract angiogenin and the tumor starves (93). I sat there pondering the concept and decided that I would further investigate this intoxicating find.
Cancer is the form of disease, when abnormal cells divide uncontrolledly and invade other tissues. Cancer is not one type of disease because there are more than 100 types of the cancer spread in the world ( National Cancer Institute 2013). Every third person in the world has a cancer. Based on statistics, in the USA in 2013 the cancer was a cause of death for 580,350 people ( The American Cancer Society 2013). The aim of this project is to evaluate all aspects of proton therapy. It will be argued that proton therapy is the most effective treatment for cancer conventional treatments. The most established types of cancer treatment such as chemical therapy or chemotherapy and surgery will be discussed. The proton therapy as a contemporary type of radiation oncology, which is used in only a few countries, will be analyzed as a possible replacement. In this essay advantages of proton beam therapy such as cosmetic purity of a skin, efficiency and radiation will be discussув. Furthermore, in this paper will be evaluated the cost and risk of death, which can be reached by unprecise planning, of the proton beam therapy. Additionally, will be surveyed the results of the proton therapy such as treatment for earlier incurable types of cancer and possible discussed about future improvements.
Nikitina, E. G., Urazova, L. N., & Stegny, V. N. (2012). MicroRNAs and Human Cancer.Experimental Oncology, 34(1), 2-8. Retrieved from http://archive.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/chem_biol/eol/2012_1/002.pdf
It concerns all specialties of medecine, from pathology and oncology to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.Currently, nanomedicine applications have been approved and are currently used for diagnostic procedures, body and organ imaging, surgical tools, drug delivery systems and gene therapies. [5,6]
As Vallet-Regi's Laboratory has found, MSN's disassemble and release siRNA in response to pH changes.13 This can make targeting a specific cellular region challenging since the MSN may degrade in an acidic area before reaching a basic region. To modify when the siRNA releases, Vallet-Regi's Laboratory has found SIP's (self immolative polymers) with polyurethane backbones and a tert-butyloxycarbonyl protecting group, are an effective method of protecting MSN's until they reach their target acidic pH (Fig.
Nanomedicine is offering incredible and innovative therapies like cancer nanomedicine, nanosurgery, and tissue engineering. In cancer nanomedicine, they use “targeted drug delivery” to target the tumor itself and avoid harming the normal, healthy cells (Berger, 2017). This in return, offers a more effective treatment with better outcomes and less side effects. In cancer nanomedicine, nanoparticles are used as tumor destroying mediators that use high temperatures to destroy them. These nanoparticles have to be injected into the tumor, then they have to be activated to produce this heat and then they are destroyed via a magnetic field, X-rays, or light (Berger,
The term nanocarriers includes a wide range of different nanosized drug delivery systems. The oldest and at the same time the most clinically established nanocarriers are liposomes, spheres composed of an aqueous core surrounded by one or more concentric lipid bilayers. They are suited for the encapsulation of both hydrophillic and hydrophobic drugs, respectively in the aqueous core and whitin the lipid membrane (Hafner e.a. 2014). Liposomes increase thus the solubility of hydrophobic compounds, they enable trapping of drug molecules with a high potency, they reduce systemic side effects and toxicity and they attenuate drug clearance (Riehemann e.a. 2009)
An ordinary human body contains approximately one trillion cells and precisely 46 chromosomes in each cell. However, the human body can be altered by a genetic mutation. Over the course of history, genetic mutations have had a large impact on the human race. They have brought harm to numerous amounts of people. Cancer, in particular, is one of the most lethal diseases. Cancer begins when a portion of DNA inside a chromosome is damaged, causing a cell to mutate. Then, the mutated cell reproduces multiple times and creates a tumor. Afterwards, cancer cells break off of the tumor, enter the bloodstream, and disperse throughout the body. If the cells break off, the tumor is considered malignant - this type of cancer is very difficult to cure. Many patients today stay optimistic for a medication to heal cancer. It is imperative to address a few of the causes and effects of cancer in order to gain a general knowledge of genetic mutations.
Shi, Y., & Zou, M. (2008). Progress in gene therapy research. In J. L. Lewis (ED.), Gene therapy and cancer research progress (pp. 23-130). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of
Bioengineering analysis is pointing a new way to better drug designs and better drug testing. The disease of cancer has taken the life of many patients, but through new medicines and procedures many more are surviving. A significant progress has been made against cancer, allowing people to live longer and fuller lives. There have been more than one-million less cancer deaths since 1990and 1991(aacr.org). On January 1, 2012 there were 13.7 million survivors in the United States. These numbers are achieved by using new techniques to cure cancer like, immunotherapies to avoid toxins, Targeted cancer therapies to target different types of cancer, and weakling cancerous tumors making them susceptible to drugs. Cancer is still a significant problem and is far from being cured, but step by step biomedical engineers are getting closer and closer.
...uming Nie, and May D. Wang. "Nanotechnology Applications in Surgical Oncology." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 09 Apr. 2014. .
Sutradhar, Kumar Bishwajit, and Md. Lutful Amin. “Nanotechnology in Cancer Drug Delivery and Selective Targeting.” International Scholarly Research Notices, Hindawi, 16 Jan. 2014,
Histopathology and molecular pathology both fall within the medical science branch of pathology where the primary concern is the examination of tissues, body fluids, and organs to aid in the diagnosis of diseases.