Engineered nanomedicine for myeloma and bone microenvironment targeting

TLDR

Limited treatment options for bone cancers such as metastatic breast, prostate, and blood cancers underscore the need for novel therapies that target tumor cells and their microenvironment with minimal off‑target effects. The study aimed to engineer bone‑homing, stealth nanoparticles to deliver anticancer, bone‑stimulating drugs for treating multiple myeloma. Nanoparticles were administered to mice to increase bone volume and strength before tumor cell injection, testing the hypothesis that enhanced bone integrity suppresses myeloma growth. The nanoparticles slowed myeloma growth, prolonged survival, and demonstrated the potential of bone‑homing nanomedicine as an effective cancer treatment.

Abstract

Significance Limited treatment options exist for cancer within the bone, as demonstrated by the inevitable, pernicious course of metastatic breast, prostate, and blood cancers. The difficulty of eliminating bone-residing cancer necessitates novel, alternative treatments to manipulate the tumor cells and their microenvironment, with minimal off-target effects. To this end, we engineered bone-homing, stealth nanoparticles to deliver anticancer, bone-stimulatory drugs, and demonstrated their utility with bortezomib (a model drug) and multiple myeloma (a model cancer). To test our hypothesis that increasing bone volume and strength inhibits tumor growth, mice were treated with these nanoparticles before being injected with cancer cells. Results demonstrated significantly slower myeloma growth and prolonged survival. Our research demonstrates the potential of bone-homing nanomedicine as an efficacious cancer treatment mechanism.