A team of UNC researchers has created a new
device that targets cancerous pancreatic tumors, opening doors for many
patients with pancreatic and other forms of cancer.
James Byrne, a medical student at UNC, was the primary inventor of the
device and creator of the drug cocktail used in it.
“It uses an electric current to drive the drugs from the device to the
tumor,” he said. Byrne’s adviser, Joseph DeSimone, helped in leading the research.
“It was my laboratory that conceived of
this device and we were the ones fabricating the device,” DeSimone said.
DeSimone said the National Cancer Institute wanted them to work on this.
“We were using nanotechnology to deliver drugs to every other tumor but
pancreatic,” DeSimone said. “ ... We said it wouldn’t work, and they
really wanted us to focus on this.”
DeSimone said the electric field drives drugs into tumors that are not
easily treated through chemotherapy.
“Most chemo is delivered by an IV and it relies on a rich blood supply
and many tumors have a rich blood supply, but some don’t,” DeSimone
said.
DeSimone said pancreatic tumors and others are known for not getting
much of a blood supply.
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