Nanoteranostics and nanosecurity
The expert spoke about new methods of safe nanomedicine
The II International Symposium "Engineering and Physical Technologies of Biomedicine" has been completed at the MEPhI Research Institute with the support of the Ministry of Science and Education, the Ministry of Health of Russia in cooperation with the Rosatom State Corporation and the Kaluga Pharmaceutical Cluster. The university was visited by more than 250 leading scientists in the fields of bionanotechnology and nanomedicine from all over the world (USA, France, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, China, India).
One of the main participants of the symposium is Professor MEPhI and Aix-Marseille University in France, Andrey Kabashin told RIA Novosti about innovations in the field of nanoteranostics.
– Andrey Viktorovich, please explain what is nanoteranostics?
– Nanoteranostics is a field of medicine that combines therapy and diagnostics on a nanoscale spatial scale. The effect on the disease, in this case, is with the help of nanoparticles that can perform any function with optical or other excitation. For example, these nanoparticles can locally destroy a cancerous tumor due to overheating. At the same time, the particle can fluoresce under optical excitation, which gives us the opportunity to detect it. It can also act as a carrier of, say, a radionuclide, which in turn can realize both a therapeutic and a visualizing function. It turns out a three-level scheme of diagnosis and treatment.
– Andrey Viktorovich, please explain what is nanoteranostics?
– Nanoteranostics is a field of medicine that combines therapy and diagnostics on a nanoscale spatial scale. The effect on the disease, in this case, is with the help of nanoparticles that can perform any function with optical or other excitation. For example, these nanoparticles can locally destroy a cancerous tumor due to overheating. At the same time, the particle can fluoresce under optical excitation, which gives us the opportunity to detect it. It can also act as a carrier of, say, a radionuclide, which in turn can realize both a therapeutic and a visualizing function. It turns out a three-level scheme of diagnosis and treatment.
– What materials are used in nanoteranostics? What properties should they have?
First of all, these materials must be non-toxic and compatible with the human body. The next necessary property is "invisibility" for the immune system, otherwise it will simply destroy them. Also, nanoparticles should not accumulate in the body, and their surface should not be contaminated. As an example, you can specify silicon or composites with its use, which we actively use in our research.
– What is your forecast for the future of nanoteranostics? What tasks are you facing now?
– Specifically, we could metaphorically call our current task "the marriage of nanoteranostics and nuclear medicine." We believe that the combination of nanomedicine methods using ultrapure biodegradable (decomposing in the body) nanomaterials and the unique approaches of the MEPhI Research Institute in the field of radionuclide synthesis opens up the prospect of creating breakthrough nanoteranostics technologies in the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases.
A unique feature of nanoteranostics is the destruction of malignant tumors and their metastases by noninvasive methods with subcellular accuracy determined by the size of the nanoparticle impact zone. The ultrapure biodegradable nanomaterials we use will allow us to find a tumor of even the smallest size and destroy it with further complete removal of nanoparticles from the body without side effects. Excretion is carried out through the kidneys, which is safer than excretion through the liver.
From the point of view of research, our projects have already progressed far enough. However, the ultimate goal is to use our medical developments in practice. The next step is to demonstrate the vectorization (the direction in which nanoparticles move) of medicines on model tumors, and then to conduct clinical trials in collaboration with physicians.
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