Patches can deliver treatment to colon cancer cells, potentially shrinking the tumor

Patches have long been a tool used in helping people quit smoking. Now, thanks to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, they may one day be able to shrink cancerous tumors.

The patch is made of hydrogel and can stick to tumors to deliver treatments as the elastic gel in the patch breaks down. In a clinical trial on the colon cancer in mice, researchers studied three methods of treatment including gene therapy, chemotherapy and a combination of all three. The results were published in the July 25 edition of Nature Materials.

The team used gold nanoparticles to deliver the gene therapy to target the Kras cancer gene, near-infrared radiation to release the chemotherapy and cause heat damage, and the combination therapy was able to shrink tumors as well as preventing the tumor from returning.

"[B]y using local, combination treatment, we achieved complete tumor remission when the patch was applied to non-resected tumors and elimination of tumor recurrence when applied following tumor resection" said Natalie Artzi, PhD, senior author of the study and a principal investigator at Brigham and Women's. "Next, we would like to use colonoscopy equipment to locally apply the patch to tumors in large preclinical models. Using minimally invasive techniques to apply the triple-therapy patch and evaluate its efficacy has the potential to improve clinical procedures and therapeutic outcomes."

Researchers hope that one day these patches could be used to treat cancer without open surgery as well as shrinking tumors before resection or eliminating resection altogether.