BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

Prostate-bound nanoparticles

November 13, 2008 8:00 AM UTC

Platinum drugs such as cisplatin, which have been successfully used for the treatment of different types of cancer, are notoriously inefficient with prostate cancer, due mostly to the particular physiology of the prostate and the chemistry of the drugs themselves. Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School have engineered a low-toxicity, prostate-specific nanoparticle containing a cisplatin prodrug that is efficacious in resistant prostate cancer cell lines.1

When delivered systemically, drug toxicities can limit the amount of cisplatin that is given, and such dosing is often not sufficient for effective treatment. Sub-therapeutic doses also can lead to resistance. In addition, cisplatin is hydrophilic, which makes it difficult for use with most controlled-release hydrophobic drug delivery vehicles...