Firstly, we’d like to wish a very blessed Ramadan to our friends and partners in the Middle East. Ramadan Mubarak. Secondly, we’re excited to share the news of a ground-breaking breast cancer treatment that lessens the negative effects of chemotherapy, now being developed in the UAE.
One of the main disadvantages of chemotherapy is that while it very efficiently targets cancer cells, it also has a negative impact on the healthy cells within the body, causing a range of side effects, from nausea, vomiting and hair loss to anaemia and infections. The new treatment from the Middle East seeks to overcome these effects using nanocapsules. These innovative shells contain the chemotherapy inside, preventing the drug from interacting with healthy cells as the nanocapsules travel to the target area. Once they reach the breast tumour/s, ultrasound waves are used to trigger the release of the chemotherapy drug from the nanocapsules. This enables the highest concentration of the drug to reach the cancerous tissues, improving the effectiveness of treatment.
To further boost patient outcomes, the nanocapsule technique is also combined with an antibody treatment called Herceptin. Herceptin molecules are added to the nanocapsules, and these work by attaching themselves to the cancer cell receptors found in the breast, blocking them from receiving growth signals.
This ground-breaking technique was pioneered by Dr. Ghaleb Husseini, founder of the ‘Ultrasound in Cancer Research Group’. The group focuses on the area of ultrasound-activated drug delivery and Dr. Husseini has set up a biomedical engineering lab at the American University of Sharjah to aid the project. The team behind the nanocapsule technique is a few short steps away from conducting clinical trials and believe that the technique could be applied to other types of cancer treatment, including those for cervical and prostate cancers in the future.
We are passionate about cancer research and development, and so are delighted to hear of the positive results from this treatment so far. We wish Dr. Husseini and his team all the best with securing clinical trials and look forward to hearing about the next steps in this innovation.
At RMDM, we believe that the best way to fight cancer is to find new technologies to detect it at the earliest stages, when it is most treatable. To learn more about our early detection cancer blood test, please check out PanTum Detect on our website.