Barcoded Nanoparticles Predict the Personalized Response to Cancer Medicines: A View of the Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis

Cancer medicine is taking its first steps towards patient-specific care. Nanotechnologies have many benefits for treating cancer, including the ability to target diagnostic agents directly to the tumor and metastasis.

Our research is aimed at predicting how a cancer patient will respond to treatment, before the actual medication program begins. In fact, at least 30% of cancer patients are prescribed a medication that fails to affect the tumor; these numbers greatly increase when dealing with a metastatic or recurrent disease. To address this need, we developed liposomes that target tumor and metastasis, where they gauge the activity of medicines in a personalized manner. Specifically, we developed a liposomal diagnostic system for predicting the therapeutic potency of anti-cancer drugs inside the patient`s tumor in a safe manner. The system is similar by concept to an `allergy test`, screening the potency of miniscule doses of multiple medicines directly inside the patient`s tumor, before beginning a treatment cycle. Based on the screen, a patient-specific drug potency chart is constructed, rating the activity of the different medicines for each individual patient. Furthermore, the system predicts the activity of drugs in various cellular subsets of the tumor microenvironment and in the metastasis.

In pre-clinical trials we found the system is accurate in predicting the response of triple-negative tumors to medication. The clinical implications of these approaches will be discussed.