Russian researchers have unveiled an experimental drug delivery system that they say was 10 times more effective than conventional chemotherapy in preclinical testing using an animal model of early-stage melanoma metastases.
The approach, developed by a team led by academician Sergey Deev at Moscow’s Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, uses microscopic nanocontainers to deliver doxorubicin, a chemotherapy drug, directly to cancer cells while reducing exposure to healthy tissue.
According to the researchers, the nanocontainers rapidly break down in the bloodstream, releasing the drug near tumors and allowing it to penetrate cancerous tissue more effectively. They reported that the method demonstrated significantly greater efficacy than traditional chemotherapy in vivo in an animal model of early lung melanoma metastases.
The findings were presented at the Engineering Biology and Biopharmaceuticals international conference in Novosibirsk. The research has not yet been presented as evidence of effectiveness in human clinical trials.
