Diagnostic Barcoded Nanoparticles for Personalized Cancer Medicine

Selecting the proper drug, that addresses each patient’s unique disease presentation, is the primary goal of personalized medicine. Here, we developed a nanotechnology platform for predicting the personalized activity of multiple anti-cancer agents inside the patient's tumor, before beginning a treatment cycle. The technology is based on barcoded nanoparticles, each containing a low dose of a drug and corresponding unique DNA barcode that is used as a mediator to correlate which drug is most efficacious for treating the patient's malignancy. Our approach was to inject particles intravenously, let the nanoparticles target the tumor, two days later, a biopsy was taken from the tumor and the tissue was homogenized into a single-cell suspension. The cells were sorted according to their viability state. Then, the DNA barcodes were extracted from the cells and expanded using RT-PCR. The cell viability data was correlated with the type of drug/s found inside each of the cells, thereby identifying which drug or drug combination is optimal for treating the lesion. Based on the screen, a treatment protocol was selected, generating a successful outcome in vivo.