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 vivo¹. The barcodes enabled us to record the activity of each drug in various of cell types and metastases sites in a single cell level. We found out that the nanoparticles target the key cell types in the tumor microenvironment. Nanotechnologies enable to strategize cancer care by selecting the optimal medication to targeting sub-cellular populations in the tumor and metastases.

References:

1.Yaari, Z. et al. Theranostic barcoded nanoparticles for personalized cancer medicine. Nat. Commun. 7, 13325 (2016).