Scientists from the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw have developed a new liquid drug carrier that will help in the treatment of brain tumors and eliminate the side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

In addition to the classic chemotherapeutic agent, the new carrier also contains molecules that silence or block genes involved in the development of neoplastic tissue.

The mechanism of synthetic lethality, i.e. forced cell death, was used there. The carrier itself is in the form of a multiple emulsion, which allows scientists to isolate substances used in therapy and control the rate of their release.

The solution was tested on glioblastoma cells.

“Research has shown that the therapy proposed by our team is much more effective than classic chemotherapy, said Dr Eng. Ewa Dłuska from the Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology, a project manager.

“Depending on the dose of therapeutics, an approximately 20-30% decrease in the viability of cancer cells was achieved compared to the therapy based on the use of emulsions without gene silencing promoters”, added Dr Ewa Dłuska.