In Poland, more than 20 000 cases of breast cancer are recorded annually. This means that one in eight women will develop this cancer. Thanks to the work of our Kraków institute’s scientists, with the support of foreign partners, we will have the chance to fight this disease even more effectively.
Drug conjugates, a combination of two drugs with different mechanisms of action, are currently the most promising for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (HER2+). Recent reports even indicate that they will enable us to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer as if it were a chronic disease. Unfortunately, conjugates constitute very difficult molecules to obtain and are used in subsequent treatment steps. Moreover, they are one of the most expensive therapies.
Researchers from the Łukasiewicz – Kraków Institute of Technology are searching for answers to these challenges, among others. The project, which received funding through the FIRST TEAM FENG competition, is expected to lead to the development of innovative nanodrugs based on unique combinations of chemotherapeutics with hormonal drugs. Nanodrugs are agents encapsulated in specially designed targeted delivery systems, or nanoparticles.
An additional outcome of the ongoing work is expected to be the development of a targeted delivery system to minimise the problems associated with manufacturing anticancer conjugates. This means increased opportunities not only for developing unique (nano)hormone chemotherapeutics, but also, through collaboration with oncologists, human breast cancer models for drug research. This will reduce the cost and time of pre-clinical studies in the future.
The high interdisciplinary nature of the established research group at Łukasiewicz – KIT and the support of scientific partners from Harvard Medical School – Massachusetts General Hospital, and Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute (University of Zaragoza), as well as the participation of the business partner, Selvita S.A., will enable multidirectional research concerning nanomaterials. This will result in creating a high-quality, safe, and effective product.
The implementation of the research – from design to synthesis to biological testing – will be fully coordinated by Łukasiewicz – KIT scientists at the Centre for Nature-Inspired Technologies. Its members have expertise in various scientific fields such as medicinal chemistry, pharmacy, nanotechnology, cell biology, and tissue engineering.
The amount of funding for the project is almost four million zloty. Our project constitutes one of 27 proposals that received support in the first call.