UC Davis scientists are putting a high-tech twist on a familiar cancer dream: hit the tumor hard and leave everything else alone. Researchers say they are testing smart nanoparticles that travel to cancer sites, then transform into sticky nanofiber networks that cling to tumors so doctors can effectively park drugs where they are needed most while sparing healthy tissue. The experimental platform is now in preclinical testing at the university’s Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory.
The effort, led by Distinguished Professor Kit S. Lam, recently landed a $3.1 million NIH R01 research project grant to push the work forward, according to UC Davis Health. In the university’s announcement, Lam called the award a chance to speed up development of “a whole new way of treating cancer.” The team describes the platform as a two-component, two-step strategy that first locks in on tumors, then triggers drug delivery on demand later.
How the two-step system works
A federal grant record lays out the technical game plan: build transformable nanoparticles that home in on tumor receptors such as EGFR or the α3β1 integrin, then use advanced imaging to watch how those particles behave in living systems and finally test safety and cancer-fighting power in preclinical models, according to GovTribe. The application describes a TNP/TCTS setup, short for transformable nanoparticle and two-component two-step platform.
In this design, the particles are engineered to morph into a nanofibrillar network once they reach the tumor microenvironment. That sticky web can remain at the tumor site for up to a week while similar material clears from organs such as the liver and lungs in about two days, the abstract notes. Those timing differences are what allow clinicians, at least in theory, to “park” therapeutic payloads inside the tumor while giving the rest of the body a better break from harsh drugs.
Proven lab technique
Lam’s group is not starting from scratch. The lab has already published proof-of-concept work showing that transformable peptide nanoparticles could shut down HER2 signaling and shrink tumors in mouse models, providing in-vivo evidence that the approach can work, as reported in Nature Nanotechnology. That 2020 study, along with related patents, underpins the current strategy to move peptide-based nanomaterials toward real-world therapeutic use…