Nano particles are proving to be useful for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and targeted drug delivery. This is a major breakthrough in the field of cancer treatment, stated Dr Avinash Pandey - Professor & Head, Nanotechnology Application Centre, University of Allahabad.

Dr Pandey was speaking at the 3rd Bangalore Nano 2010 on the latest developments in the field of nano medicine. In this topic ‘Towards Table Top MRI Theragonostics: efficacy of functionalized Nano-sized MRI contrast,’ he  described how existing formulations of Gd-DTPA can be modified to Gd2S3.En3+ to act as Luminiscent Magnetic Quantum Dots (LMQD)to enhance the contrast in MRI imaging. Newly synthesized nano particles have the capability to cross the brain bold barrier, a fact that will lead to tremendous innovations in the field of medicine. With theragnostics, it will become possible to use the same particles for diagnosis and therapy.

According to Dr Rinti Banerjee, Professor, Bioengineering Group, IIT, Bombay in a topic tilted Lipid and Biopolymeric Nanoparticles in Therapeutics, stated that  there was  the tremendous potential for the  Lipid and Biopolymeric Nanoparticles as they offered a combination of hyperthermia and drug delivery.

“Various innovations in nano-medicine have helped combat drug resistant cancer cells. For instance, Nanocochleates help in oral delivery of peptides and vaccines, nanovesciles improve distribution, surface active nanovesicles that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Other applications include aerosols for respiratory disorders for neonatal and adults,” she added.

Amarnath Maitra, INAS Senior Professor, Dept of Chemistry, University of Delhi addressed on the issue of  Enzyme loaded hollow gold nanoparticles which have have potential applications in Cancer Nanotechnology.

“Continuous exposure to chemotherapy has long term and wide-ranging side effects. This is where Dr Maitra said that the capabilities of hollow gold nanoparticles as carriers for enzymes are proving to be robust, biocompatible and ultra small in size.

“These are also easily eliminated from the body, thus reducing the risk of interrupting metabolic activities. As the work is still in experimental stages, the results on human experiments is still awaited. Therefore instead of treating only the cancer cells, the cancer inducing stem cells are targeted and the disease can be treated effectively,” pointed our Dr Maitra.

Delving on the topic, Theragonistic nanomedicines targeted to aberrant pathways in cancer, Dr K Manzoor, Professor, Amrita Centre for Nanosciences, Kochi, stated that this field offered a wide range of advantages as compared to traditional medicines in treating cancer. These nanoparticles have simultaneous detection and treatment potential and allow for concomitant determination of agent localization, release and treatment efficacy analysis. Incorporating multiple nanodrugs in a single carrier will help overcome all the problems being faced by traditional methods of cancer treatment. The special properties of nanoparticles like flouroscence, magnetic resonance, near Infra red etc. help in working with these materials for innovations in the field of medicine, he said.

The session on nano medicine was chaired by Prof Shantikumar Nair - Director, Amrita Centre for Nanosciences.