A Very Brief Overview of Two Nanotechnology Cancer Treatment Breakthroughs

When it comes to cancer treatments, the first three that I think of are chemotherapy, immunology, and surgery. My family considered all three of these over the course of my maternal grandmother’s fight with this insidious disease. Now, two years after she passed away, I’ve wondered whether those were her only options.

Thanks to advancements in nanotechnology, that is not the case.

What exactly are the three main challenges to cancer treatment? The first hurdle that treatments must surmount are our bodies’ biological barriers, which include the barrier between our blood and our brains, the barrier between our blood and our eyes, and the filters in our small intestines. The second is drug resistance, or the ability of cancer cells to combat therapies that were previously effective. Last but not least, there’s systemic toxicity — various negative side effects stemming from cancer treatments that spread through the entire body, rather than directly targeting the tumor.

To bypass biological barriers and access tumor-affected areas, treatments must be as easily dissolvable in water as possible. This is the issue that NTT Biopharma, a biotech company based in Taipei City, intends to tackle through their nanocarrier platforms. Their customizable Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, or MSNs, can be customized to contain an assortment of acids that can be co-administered with other drugs, like Imatinib, and compensate for said drugs’ poor solubility.

In terms of drug resistance, NanoTech Pharma, a pharmaceutical company based in the US, has recently developed a delivery vehicle called AccuLNP. It features ionizable lipids that can encapsulate nucleic acids. The positively charged lipids attract the negatively charged nucleic acids like a magnet. This destabilizes the membrane of cancerous cells, enabling the nucleic acids to cross through with the ionizable lipids. Then, the nucleic acids attach to the receptors on the tumor, prolonging the effectiveness of the treatment.

As for systemic toxicity, these lipidic nanoparticles require no need for the external stimulation (e.g., radiology) that facilitates the passive targeting process. By extension, they minimize the risks of the passive targeting, which include drug accumulation and uneven treatment.

Though chemotherapy, immunology, and surgery has helped many patients, they may not be the best treatment for every patient. These advancements in nanotechnology could be revolutionary, but it’s important to remember that not all barriers to treatment are biological. There are financial and logistical limitations as well. A treatment is not a treatment unless it is accessible to anyone who needs it. Otherwise, it’s just a product.

I hope that those whose loved ones still have time found this helpful. I am not a medical professional, so please conduct your own thorough research and consult an actual doctor if you would like to try the treatments I have mentioned. In any case, thanks for reading!

Works Cited

Ghadami, Azam, et al. “Nanotechnology in Imatinib Delivery: Advancing Cancer Treatment through Innovative Nanoparticles.” Medical Oncology (Northwood, London, England), vol. 42, no. 4, 2025, pp. 116-.

Nano-Targeting & Therapy Biopharma Inc. (2020, n.d.). Technology. NTT Biopharma. https://www.nttbiopharma.com/service

NanoTech Pharma Inc. (2024, n.d.) Ionizable Lipids & Lipid Nanoparticle. NanoTech Pharma. https://nanotech-pharma.com/ionizable-lipids