They were built in Italy, at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, thanks to a grant from the European Research Council. They are tiny shuttles that can become friends of the immune system. Designed to travel in the human body, this nanoparticles are able to recognize the cells of different forms of cancer and kill them by giving them a drug.

“Smart” drugs designed for the brain

Described in the magazine ACS Nano, the nanoparticles were created by the interdisciplinary group coordinated by Paolo Decuzzi, director of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine Precision IIT, which also includes the researcher Roberto Palomba. The research was carried out within the framework of the European Potent project, directed by Decuzzi and whose objective is to use nanoparticles for the early diagnosis and treatment of the most aggressive brain tumor, multiform glioblastoma. The ultimate goal is to have a new generation of intelligent drugs that can treat diseased tissues without damaging healthy ones. In laboratory trials of different forms of cancer, nanoparticles are designed to combine chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Small particles, super powers

Nanoparticles have been produced so that they become soft as blood cells or hard as bone portions. Being soft allows nanoparticles to escape attacks from the immune system, which would otherwise identify them as enemies, annihilating them. In this way they can bring the medicine they are carrying to its destination. Rigid particles, immediately recognized by immune cells that devour enemies (called macrophages), become Trojan horses that carry drugs directly inside the macrophages, strengthening them and turning them into new weapons to launch against tumors.