Grant: Operating Grant

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide and results in 1.3 million deaths each year. Currently, platinum-based chemotherapy, in particular cisplatin, plays a major role in the management and treatment of lung cancers. However, conventional cisplatin therapy is associated with inadequate delivery of drug to tumours, major dose limiting toxicities and development of multi-drug resistance. These obstacles may be addressed by the development of actively targeted therapies that are effectively transported to tumors while minimizing accumulation in healthy tissues. The overall goal of this research is to use nanotechnology to provide targeted delivery of the chemotherapeutic agent, cisplatin, to lung cancer tumor cells. Advanced image-based methods will be used to inform on the pathway and fate of the targeted nanoparticles in animal models in order to design the optimal targeted nanoparticle formulation of cisplatin. This research should lead to the development of a superior formulation of cisplatin that results in major improvements in tumor control and long-term survival for lung cancer patients.