A joint China-Singapore research team is using nanoparticle technology to create a cancer vaccine that has produced promising results in animal tests – reducing the regrowth and spread of tumours up to seven times more effectively than existing treatments.
The nanovaccine attacks not only regular cancerous cells but also cancer stem cells (CSCs), which can lie dormant within tumours during treatment, only awakening when conditions are more favourable to the disease.
The bioinspired approach developed by the researchers, led by Yang Yanlian from the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology and Chen Xiaoyuan from the National University of Singapore, has potential for personalised cancer vaccines.
The researchers detailed their findings in a paper published last month by the peer-reviewed Nature Nanotechnology.
Post-surgical recurrence and metastasis of cancers are mainly driven by CSCs, which are highly resistant to conventional therapies. Some studies have even suggested that traditional treatments like radiotherapy may inadvertently promote their spread.
The body’s normal stem cells work continuously, whether generating blood or helping to renew the gut’s lining every three to five days. But their unique self-renewal and unlimited proliferation qualities are also harboured by CSCs within tumours.
