The Cancer Center of San Roque University Hospitals begins a clinical trial with nanoparticles in patients with advanced head and neck cancer.
Currently, patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer receive combined treatment of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In some cases of elderly patients or patients with other concurrent diseases, it is not possible to safely administer chemotherapy. In these cases, the treatment does not reach the intensity that would be desirable to control the disease. Therefore, it is necessary to find an alternative to the enhancing effect of radiotherapy that we achieve with chemotherapy.
Nanotechnology It uses nanoparticles, that is, elements that are measured in nanometers (a nanometer is a million times smaller than a millimeter). In medicine, nanoparticles can be used to transport antibodies, medications, imaging aids, and other substances to certain parts of the body. The nanoparticles used in this clinical trial, NBTXR3, are the first in its class of 50 nm Nanoparticles composed of crystalline hafnium oxide (HfO2). These nanoparticles are injected into the tumor and are internalized by the tumor cells.
Nanoparticles inside cancer, Visible by electron microscope: The composition of these Hafnium nanoparticles allows them to remain inert and be activated only by radiotherapy, converting this conventional radiation into radiation with high-energy electrons and photons, with a much greater capacity for tumor destruction, without leaving the cell itself. compared to the same dose of radiation alone, without adding toxicity to surrounding tissues.
Preliminary trials carried out in this disease and in other more complex diseases such as sarcomas, show results that multiply the response rate by 2, without the nanoparticles, inactive in the absence of radiation, being associated with relevant side effects. The activation of Nanoparticles within cancer increases damage to tumor cells.
Centers from Europe, Asia, the USA and Canada participate in this Phase III clinical trial, with the Canary Islands joining this important and innovative initiative.
