IIT Guwahati develops strategy to deliver chemo drugs to cancer cells

Scientists believe that their approach will allow development of drug carriers for chemotherapy with enhanced efficacy and negligible side effects. 

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed a new strategy to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs specifically to the cancerous cells in a patient’s body. The results of the research have been published in The Royal Society of Chemistry, including ‘Chemical Communications’ and ‘Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry’.  

Anticancer activities were carried out in collaboration with Prof Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh and Plaboni Sen from the IIT Guwahati and Prof Arindam Bhattacharyya and Soumya Chatterjee from Calcutta University. 

The problem with existing chemotherapeutic drugs is that they kill healthy cells of the body in addition to cancerous cells, leading to numerous undesirable side effects. There is worldwide research to overcome the drawbacks of secondary toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs. Some strategies that are being explored include target-specific delivery of the drugs and on-demand delivery of appropriate drug doses to cancerous cells/tissues. 

Features of IITG developed molecule

• The first feature is that the molecules assemble to form hollow spherical shells in water These shells that are ten-millionth of a meter in size can be used as a minuscule container for the drug molecule 
• The second characteristic is that the molecule has a part (the acetazolamide ligand) that specifically binds to cancer cells and not normal cells 
• The third feature of the molecule is that it has a photocleavable linker moiety that is responsive to infrared light and breaks the shell when exposed to IR  
• Molecule also contain a dye moiety (cyanine-3) which is also useful for both fluoresce and scattering-based imaging to visually monitor the entire process  

Thus, the molecules developed by the IITG researchers self-assemble as capsules to hold the drug, which then attaches only to cancer cells. When infrared light is shone on it, the shell breaks and releases the encapsulated drug into the cancerous cell. The IITG scientists rightly believe that their approach would allow the development of drug carriers for chemotherapy with enhanced efficacy and negligible side effects. 
Read more: 

• JEECUP counselling 2022: Round 4 registration begins 
• Student tests positive for H1N1 at NIT Warangal 
• Centre for Sustainable Drinking Water inaugurated at IIT Jodhpur