Biomedical Engineering’s David Grainger, has long researched drug delivery and biomaterials, specifically nanomaterials, and the impact they have in improving cancer treatment. Unfortunately, even after decades of research and newly approved nanotechnology drugs, data shows no significant improvements in anti-tumor therapeutic efficacy. Grainger and researchers from China’s Tianjin Medical University and Nankai University theorize bacteria frequently found within certain aggressive solid tumors could be the key to explaining why treatments for cancer are not progressing despite years of medical advances. Evidence has been found that tumor-resident bacteria could be promoting treatment resistance due to their link with inflammation, changes in the host immune system, and breakdown of chemotherapy drugs.
Grainger and colleagues are studying how antibiotic therapies could be utilized to target solid tumor microbiomes to improve treatment. They believe that by using nanotech drug delivery systems with co-formulated antibiotics to address the tumor bacteria, cancer treatments will have more success. At this time, more research is needed, but the analysis was published in the journal Cancer Biology & Medicine.
To learn more about this study, click here to read the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering’s article.
