Grant: Alliance Grants

According to Canadian Cancer Statistics, an estimated 220,400 new cancer cases and over 82,000 deaths have occurred in Canada in 2019, making cancer the number one cause of death in Canada. Currently, the first lines of treatment for cancer involves surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, all of which can involve adverse side effects, nonspecific targeting and high-dose radiation. Exploration of medical uses of natural anticancer drugs such as cannabinoids and curcuminoids have been growing in recent years with promising results. Moreover, nanomedicine, as a relatively new science, has offered multiple benefits in treating human diseases by site-specific, and target-oriented delivery of precise medicines such as chemotherapeutic agents, biological agents, immunotherapeutic agents, natural drugs, etc. This collaborative research project is an academic-industrial-clinical alliance with the goal of developing a new nanotechnology-enhanced delivery method involving natural anticancer drugs such as cannabinoids and curcuminoids for use in targeted cancer therapy. The release of anticancer drug molecules from nanodrug carriers at a target cancerous site will be activated by therapeutic ultrasound waves incident from an externally placed ultrasound applicator. The project also aims toward full understanding of the biophysical mechanisms of action of ultrasound energy and nanodrug carriers, through both experimental and theoretical studies. Various nanocarrier systems including nanoemulsions, metal nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes, and various therapeutic ultrasound modalities will be included in this project toward designing and testing of a novel ultrasound-activated natural drug-based nanocarrier toward targeted cancer treatment.