Porphysomes: A Novel Class of Nanoparticles for Cancer Detection and Treatment

Toronto researchers, led by Gang Zheng, associate research director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and professor of medical biophysics at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, have received Health Canada approval to conduct clinical trials for a novel class of nanoparticles called porphysomes. These nanoparticles have the potential to revolutionize cancer detection and treatment by making treatments less invasive. Porphysomes can be used to deliver drugs to tumours, bind radioisotopes for PET imaging or radiotherapy, and absorb light for imaging and light-based therapies.

Key Takeaways:

Porphysomes are a novel class of nanoparticles that can accumulate in tumours without accumulating in healthy tissues.
Porphysomes have the potential to make cancer treatments less invasive and can be used to deliver drugs to tumours, bind radioisotopes for PET imaging or radiotherapy, and absorb light for imaging and light-based therapies.
Porphysomes have been shown to have consistent results across multiple cancer types, including colon, lung, oral, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancer, and across a wide span of preclinical models.
The researchers have received Health Canada approval to conduct clinical trials for porphysomes in 15 patients with advanced ovarian cancer.
The porphysomes will be labelled with a radioactive form of copper called Cu-64, allowing researchers to track where the nanoparticles go and how quickly they break down.
The phase 1A trial is a big step forward in bringing this made-in-Toronto innovation out of the lab and into the clinic.
One of the biggest hurdles the research team faced was proving that they could produce clinical-grade Cu-64-labelled porphysomes that met the quality standards for human drugs.
Raymond Reilly, a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology, played a critical role in scaling up from preclinical to clinical studies.
The Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility was instrumental in making clinical-grade Cu-64-labelled porphysomes.
Porphysomes have the potential to be used for minimally invasive treatments for early-stage cancers like early-stage lung cancer.

Statistics:

14 years: The time it took for researchers to translate their discovery of porphysomes from the lab to the clinic.
1.5 years: The estimated time for completion of the phase 1A clinical trial.
15 patients: The number of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who will participate in the phase 1A clinical trial.
20-30 years: The estimated time for porphysomes to be approved for clinical use and become a standard treatment for cancer.

Sources:

University of Toronto