A popular way to attack malignant tumors is using cationic liposomes as drug delivery systems. Their task is to target tumor vasculature while affecting as little of the healthy tissue as possible. In order to improve the targeting efficiency, Northeastern University Assistant Professor Robert B. Campbell, along with his Ph.D. student, Suman Dandamudi have been working to develop a more specific drug delivery vehicle by combining the electrostatic properties of cationic liposomes with the strength of an externally applied magnet field. Their article describing Phase I of their research, titled “Development and Characterization of Magnetic Cationic Liposomes for Targeting Tumor Microvasculature” appeared in the 2007 March issue of BBA (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta), published by ScienceDirect.
“The ultimate goal is to get the chemotherapeutic drugs directly to the tumor blood vessels and avoid uptake by the healthy tissue,” says Robert B. Campbell, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Northeastern’s Bouve College of Health Sciences. “Cationic liposomes preferentially target tumor vessels but do accumulate in some normal healthy tissues as well. Our research suggests that attracting our cationic liposomes (containing magnetite) to the tumor vasculature with a magnet can in fact improve overall distribution in tumors and thereby limit their uptake by the healthy tissue.”
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