Cross-border scientific collaboration has developed an alternative for the treatment of solid tumors based on inhibition of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME).
Solid tumors are difficult to treat, partly owing to cells and substances in the TME that prevent drugs from penetrating and stop the patient's own immune system from combating the tumor.
"These cells and molecules often fuel the growth of the tumor, which escapes immune surveillance," said Lúcia Helena Faccioli, a co-author of the article. She is a professor at the University of São Paulo's Ribeirão Preto School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCFRP-USP) in Brazil and heads the Center of Excellence for Quantification and Identification of Lipids (CEQIL),
The team developed nanomicelles (very small particles, measuring between 1 and 100 nanometers) comprising different substances and for this reason termed chimeric. The chimeric nanomicelles were composed of phospholipids, docetaxel (DTX), a chemotherapy medication that destroys tumor cells, and dexamethasone (DEX), an anti-inflammatory drug widely used to reduce production of various inflammatory substances, such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2).
Tests in laboratory animals showed that these DTX-DEX NMs were highly effective when administered intravenously, reducing tumor size and increasing survival.