The current 5 year survival rate for lung cancer is in the region of 10%, making it one of the cancers with the poorest patient outcomes globally. Chemotherapy drugs are usually given into the patients general blood supply and travel around the whole body until they find the cancer in the lung. These drugs target all fast dividing cells which results in healthy cells being affected, as well as tumour cells.
The key goal of this project is to assess the ability of a new chemotherapy drug delivered using a thermoresponsive gel to kill cancer cells. The RCSI Chemistry department has developed a metal-histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACI) conjugate, which has been shown to only primarily on cancer cells. By avoiding healthy cells, the side effects commonly associated with chemotherapy may also be avoided.
A thermoresponsive hydrogel is liquid at room temperature. When exposed to increased temperatures in the body it changes into a gel. Using medical devices like catheters and needles it should be possible to deliver this gel containing the drug directly into the tumour which allows for higher amounts of drug inside the tumour, and for the drug can be released over an extended period of time from inside the tumour maximising its effect.
Experiments will be carried out on lung cancer cells, A549s, grown in plastic containers in a sterile environment. These experiments will evaluate the ability of the metal-HDACI conjugate, incorporated into the thermoresponsive gel, to kill the cancer cells.
