Fighting cancer with nanoparticles: medical science hits a potential milestone

A new treatment aims to avoid the side-effects of conventional methods like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Transcript

00:00It changed everything. There is nothing like before. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

00:06From my own conception as a person to the way of facing things, it changes everything.

00:14There is nothing like before. Eight months ago I was a totally different person.

00:19I am not me anymore. I am another version of me.

00:22The drastic change that it generates in the person and in his environment is very different.

00:31Laura, who is a doctor, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

00:35She has had three operations, as well as chemo and radiotherapy.

00:39Meanwhile, at 62, Pedro has survived lung cancer, but he is paying a heavy price for it.

00:45The consequences of chemo and radiotherapy are the broken nails.

00:54I can't open my bags, I can't open anything. I can't feel anything.

00:59Now everything is smooth for me. I see everything as smooth.

01:03I always carry my hands as if they were wet, you see?

01:06After the shower, then the sunburn.

01:14Within the European Union project Ulysses, researchers are working on a nanoparticle-based treatment.

01:20So far tested against pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer,

01:25it's aimed at triggering the rejection of the tumour by the human body in a kind of a vaccine effect.

01:32The idea is to activate the immune system.

01:36And for this, we will have to introduce specific molecules in the tumour that can generate this immune response.

01:46Crucial for this is the delivery of genetic material to the tumour cells,

01:50a role played by nanoparticles similar to those used for the COVID-19 vaccines,

01:55which are being developed in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Oncology Institute of Valencia.

02:01If this vaccine is effective against pancreatic cancer,

02:05it could open up a new therapeutic opportunity for other types of tumours

02:10that are also causing mortality and currently have no treatment options.

02:17If the treatment works, it alone would be a milestone for science and research, López Guerrero says.

02:23And as only the tumour cells would be targeted by the immune response,

02:27the side effects of current treatments such as chemo and radiotherapy would be greatly reduced.