SCIENTISTS AT QUEEN’S University Belfast have developed new gene technology that can cause breast cancer cells to self-destruct – while leaving healthy cells untouched.

The technology centres on the delivery of a gene poisonous to cancer cells through a system called a Designer Biomimetic Vector (DBV) – this allows the treatment to target the malignant cells directly, causing minimal damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Dr Helen McCarthy from Queen’s School of Pharmacy has been conducting research in this field for ten years and carried out the research with the help of funding from the Breast Cancer Campaign. Their findings were published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics yesterday.

McCarthy says her next step is to turn the nanoparticles into a dried powder that could be easily transported and reconstituted before being given to patients.

“A major stumbling block to using gene therapy in the past has been the lack of an effective delivery system,” McCarthy said, “Combining the Designer Biomimetic Vector with the iNOS gene has proved successful in killing breast cancer cells in the laboratory”.

Although at an early stage, McCarthy’s laboratory research could see patient trials beginning within the next five years. If successful, she hopes that it could offer a sophisticated, highly-localised method of treatment for cancer in contrast to current forms of treatment that can attack healthy cells along with cancerous ones.

“In the long term, I see this being used to treat people with metastatic breast cancer that has spread to the bones, ideally administered before radiotherapy and chemotherapy”, she said.

Read more at Breast Cancer Campaign >