Nanotechnology used to produce biological carriers of breast cancer Tumour antigens

Iranian researchers from Tarbiat Modarres University in association with their colleagues from Cellular and Molecular Research Institute of Shahid Beheshti University succeeded in the primary production of cancer breast tumor antigen carriers. The carriers have so far been tested on rats and promising results were obtained. Tumor antigens have been identified for some cancers. They can be good targets to be targeted by the immunity system. However, they cannot perfectly trigger the immunity system against tumor due to the fact that they are internal parts of the body and also due to their improper presentation to the immunity system. This problem can be partially overcome by using carriers that can deliver the antigens to immunity system cells and also can trigger the immunity system. Among the advantages of using nanotechnology in this research, mention can be made of the more effective delivery of vaccines to the immunity cells, which results in more immunity responses. The mechanism is that body cells can receive with more efficiency the particles at nanometric scale in comparison with larger particles. The efficiency increases when the particles can trigger the immunity system as well as carrying the antigen. The efficiency of this method is very high because the nanoparticle used in this research, which is called Bacteriophage T7, is able to take and to carry a number of peptide molecules at once. This plan can be a beginning to more comprehensive researches. Taking into account the numerous abilities of particle carrying systems, projects can be designed to evaluate the produced vaccine at clinical scale. The performance of the systems can also be investigated on human bodies. Results of the research have been published on 15 November 2012 in Plos One, vol. 7, issue 11.