Nanoparticles combine photodynamic and molecular therapies against pancreatic cancer
A nanoparticle drug-delivery system that combines two complementary types of anticancer treatment could improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer and other highly treatment-resistant tumors while decreasing toxicity. In their report that has received advance online publication in Nature Nanotechnology, a research team based at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) describes how a nanomedicine that combines photodynamic therapy - the use of light to trigger a chemical reaction - with a molecular therapy drug targeted against common treatment resistance pathways reduced a thousand-fold the dosage of the molecular therapy drug required to suppress tumor progression and metastatic outgrowth in an animal model.