The NCI recently awarded funding to establish eight Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNEs). Through these programs, researchers will harness the power of nanotechnology and apply it to the major challenges of basic research and clinical oncology to improve early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The CCNEs are a major component of the $144.3 million NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, which was launched in 2004 as a comprehensive and integrated initiative to advance cancer-related nanotechnology research into clinical practice.
Nanotechnology is the development and engineering of devices so small they are measured on the molecular scale-between 1 and 100 nanometers. Nanoscale objects can be useful by themselves, or as part of larger devices containing multiple nanoscale objects. Nanotechnology has the potential to enable the translation of molecular-based science into clinical advances, thereby facilitating major progress in the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This emerging field requires the participation of researchers from many different disciplines, including physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, information technologists, and material scientists--disciplines that have not traditionally worked together.
Most biological processes occur at the nanoscale. The ability of nanoscale devices to easily access the cell's interior affords the opportunity for unprecedented gains on both clinical and basic research frontiers. The ability to simultaneously interact with multiple critical proteins and nucleic acids at the molecular level will yield a better understanding of the complex regulatory and signaling patterns that govern normal cell behavior as well as the transformation into malignant cells. Nanotechnology provides a platform for integrating research in proteomics with other investigations into the molecular nature of cancer.
The NCI envisions that over the next five years nanotechnology will result in significant, and perhaps paradigm-changing, advances in early detection, molecular imaging, assessment of therapeutic efficacy, targeted and multifunctional therapeutics, and prevention and control of cancer. Nanotechnology offers a wealth of tools that are providing cancer researchers with new and innovative ways to diagnose and treat cancer. Already, nanotechnology has been used to create new and improved ways to find small tumors through imaging. Nanoscale drug delivery devices are being developed to deliver anticancer therapeutics specifically to tumors. Work is currently being done to move these new research tools into clinical practice.
According to NCI Deputy Director for Advanced Technologies and Strategic Partnerships Anna Barker, PhD, "NCI has supported the application of nanotechnology to cancer through a variety of programs and interactions with the scientific community for more than seven years, and we're very gratified that our activities are helping to advance a pipeline of new product opportunities. For the first time ever, we are seeing multidisciplinary teams comprised of basic and clinical researchers at world-class institutions, all networked together to focus on the key cancer nanotech opportunities."
As multi-institutional hubs where nanomaterials are designed and tested, the Centers' goal is to translate nano-applications into new diagnostic tools and treatment techniques to combat cancer. Each of the CCNE awardees is associated with one or more NCI-designated Cancer Centers, is affiliated with schools of engineering and physical sciences, and is partnered with nonprofit organizations and/or private sector firms with the intent of advancing technologies being developed.
"Translational medical research in the future demands more than just academic basic science and clinical research," noted Samuel Wickline, MD, principal investigator at The Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Washington University. "Experience in drug development, preclinical testing, and clinical trials has become an upfront necessity. The CCNE program recognizes this paradigm shift in medical research by fostering interdisciplinary and multidimensional collaborations that will solve cancer problems over the next decade."
A number of CCNE efforts, such as those at the California Institute of Technology's Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center, are focusing on the development of technologies for the early detection and stratification of cancer. In collaboration with the University of California at Los Angeles and the Institute for Systems Biology, principal investigator Dr. James Heath and his team are working to improve the knowledge base and detection technologies for prostate, ovarian, and brain cancers.
"Center work will lead to new ways to detect cancer at much earlier stages, powerful imaging tools, and therapies much more efficient than conventional methods," remarked Chad Mirkin, PhD, principal investigator at the Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics CCNE at Northwestern University. Projects there are focusing on nanoparticle-based assays to create the first screening tools for ovarian cancer, and imaging agents that are ten to a hundred times more sensitive than currently available methods. Teams also are combining advanced research in molecular and cell biology with nanotechnology to develop a new class of drugs that inhibit cancer cells from spreading throughout the body. Other projects are underway to develop nanoscale cargo bins that can target cancer cells, bind to them, and unload chemotherapeutic agents directly to the source.
At the MIT-Harvard Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, principal investigators Robert Langer, PhD and Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD are focusing on the development of a diversified portfolio of nanoscale devices for targeted delivery of cancer therapies, diagnostics, non-invasive imaging, and molecular sensing. Using nanoparticles and specific targeting systems called aptamers, these researchers are developing new treatments for prostate cancer. In addition to other specific programs, this CCNE is also developing magnetic nanoparticles to enable more sensitive methods of imaging tumors that are small and hard to detect.
In addition to the CCNEs, the NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer encompasses three other major program components aimed at accelerating the translation of cancer-related nanotechnology research into clinical practice:
- Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnerships: tightly focused programs designed to develop the technologies to underpin new products in six key programmatic areas: molecular imaging and early detection, in vivo imaging, reporters of efficacy (e.g., real-time assessment of treatment), multifunctional therapeutics, prevention and control, and research enablers (opening new pathways for research).
- The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL): performs analytical tests to guide the research community, support regulatory decisions, and help identify and monitor environmental, health, and safety ramifications of nanotech applications. The NCL recently completed its first year of operation and is actively characterizing nanoparticles for academic and commercial researchers through a rigorous set of analytical protocols. The NCL works in concert with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Multidisciplinary Research Training and Team Development: application of nanotechnology to cancer requires cross-disciplinary training in biological and physical sciences. The Alliance supports training and career development initiatives to establish integrated teams of cancer researchers through mechanisms such as the NIH National Research Service Awards for Senior Fellows and the NIH National Research Service Awards for Postdoctoral Fellows. Through NCI's collaboration with the National Science Foundation, funding has established programs for science and engineering doctoral students to focus on interdisciplinary nanoscience and technology research with applications to cancer.
