Researchers develop nanoinjection drug delivery platform for breast cancer drug delivery

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras, Monash University and Deakin University, Australia, have developed a nanoinjection drug delivery platform for breast cancer drug delivery.

According to a press release, across the world, breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality among women. Conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation often harm non-cancerous tissues due to systemic drug exposure. To overcome these limitations, the researchers from India and Australia devised a nanoinjection system that delivers the anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin, directly into cancer cells.

This creates “a precise and sustained therapeutic system that minimises damage to healthy cells by combining nanoarchaeosome-based drug encapsulation with silicon nanotube-based intracellular delivery,” the release said.

The findings were published in “Advanced Materials Interfaces”, a peer-reviewed journal. The research paper was co-authored by Kaviya Vijayalakshmi Babunagappan, Subastri Ariraman, Jann Harberts, Vimalraj Selvaraj, Mukilarasi Bedatham, Narendran Sekar, Nicolas H. Voelcker, Roey Elnathan and Swathi Sudhakar.

Experimental results showed that Nanoarchaeosome-Doxorubicin–Silicon Nanotubes induced strong cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells and spared healthy fibroblasts. The platform demonstrated 23 times lower inhibitory concentration than free doxorubicin, suggesting higher potency at much lower doses, which can directly translate into lower treatment costs and fewer side effects. Unlike other nanoinjection platforms made from carbon or titanium nanotubes, the silicon nanotube-based design is inherently biocompatible and non-toxic, the release said.

Swathi Sudhakar, Assistant Professor and Faculty Advisor for Clinical Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “This research could have transformative implications for healthcare delivery in low- and middle-income countries like India, where access to advanced cancer therapies remains limited by cost. By enabling targeted delivery of smaller doses with higher efficacy, the system can potentially lower the overall expense of cancer treatment and improve patients’ quality of life.”

Roey Elnathan, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Australia, said, “This work lays the foundation for a modular drug delivery system. The next step is in vivo validation and evaluating how the platform performs across different cancer types.” Nicolas H. Voelcker, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia added that they expect to see translation of this patented drug delivery technology over the next five years.