Research

Gastrointestinal cancers are the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Most current chemotherapeutics are administered intravenously, causing discomfort and stress to patients, and high costs due to multiple hospitalizations required. Furthermore, hospitalization is dangerous for immunocompromised cancer patients, due to drug-resistant pathogens widespread in hospitals. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major hindrance to curative cancer therapy. One of the major mechanisms of MDR is enhanced energy-dependent efflux of numerous hydrophobic cytotoxic drugs, which diffuse into cells through the plasma membrane. This ATP-dependent efflux is mediated by transmembrane transporters of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily. We developed a novel β-CN-based target-activated nanoparticle system for oral delivery of synergistic combinations of hydrophobic chemotherapeutic drugs and MDR chemosensitizers.