New nanomedicine approach offers bone cancer benefits

Nanomedicine technologies in the US have been harnessed to develop a drug delivery system with the ability to protect against and treat bone cancer more effectively.

Created by the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the nanoparticles have the capability to precisely target and attack cancer cells in the bone, as well as increase bone strength and volume to prevent tumour progression.

The bone-targeted nanoparticle system works by selectively targeting the bone microenvironment and releasing a therapeutic drug in a spatiotemporally controlled manner. This results in bone remodelling and the subsequent prevention of disease progression.

Such an approach may prove useful in the treatment of bone metastasis, as well as for interventions in early stages of multiple myeloma.

Dr Michaela Reagan, co-lead study author at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Center for Hematologic Oncology, said: "Our engineered targeted therapies manipulate the tumour cells in the bone and the surrounding microenvironment to effectively prevent cancer from spreading in bone with minimal off-target effects."

Bone cancers tend to be relatively rare, with variants of the disease including osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, chondrosarcoma and spindle cell sarcoma.