Nanomedicine or how to use the tiny to cure great ills

Nanoparticles are in fashion and not only in electronic compounds. Used in some vaccines against COVID-19, these minuscule particles have promising applications in health, especially in the fight against cancer.

Although some nanoparticles are reviled, such as those used in sun creams, their use in medicine is being closely investigated by numerous scientists around the world.

The nanomedicine uses the properties of the infinitely small, says Jean-Luc Coll, president of the French society for nanomedicine.

“Nanoparticles measure from one to a few hundred nanometers”, a unit equal to one billionth of a meter, he explains.

“The most important thing to understand is that it is an assembly of several molecules with different functions”, Add.

With the nanomedicine, “We make structures that resemble viruses in size. When we put together molecules in a nanoparticle, this generates new and multiple functions, this is the interest of the nanoobject”, Col exposes.

A large part of the world’s population has already seen these particles up close since messenger RNA anticovid vaccines use them.

In this case, nanoparticles Lipid cells are responsible for transporting the RNA and protecting it within the body until it is delivered to its destination. It is just one of many applications in nanomedicine.

The nanoparticles they can transport a drug to its target or allow the use of an active ingredient that could not be administered until now, with potential use in various domains such as diagnosis, regenerative medicine or oncology.

cancer applications

On the outskirts of Paris, in Villejuif, the biotech company Nanobiotix is ​​developing a product that it hopes will make it possible to fight cancer thanks to a nanoparticle of hafnium, a metal with a strong capacity to absorb radiation.

In his laboratory, Nanobiotix creates a formula that will be injected into patients undergoing radiotherapy.

“Radiation therapy generates damage before and after the tumor, which limits the use of strong doses”explains Laurent Levy, founder of this firm.

To get around this problem, “We will locally introduce small objects that go inside the cancer cell and that will absorb the energy of the radiotherapy. This product will increase efficacy without increasing toxicity outside the tumor.” add.

In addition to this local action, Nanobiotix, founded in 2003, is studying systematic action. “In addition to physically destroying the tumor, we highlight the different parts of it, which become recognizable by the immune system”, something that doesn’t normally happen, says Levy.

The firm, which is listed in Paris and New York, has started a clinical trial to study this immune action. They are not the only ones, there are other trials underway in more advanced stages for brain and throat tumors.

It is an expanding field. Another French company, NH TherAguix, is developing a nanomedicine to improve the treatment of tumors by radiotherapy.

The principle, on paper, seems simple. In reality, it takes years of research for the process to stabilize.

“Nanomedicine is rich in applications, but it is lagging behind due to the nature of the objects handled and the difficulty of obtaining a product whose composition is guaranteed in each batch”, indicates Jean-Luc Coll.

But “we are in the middle of the step” and, despite the lack of funding in nanomedicine, messenger RNA vaccines and their nanolipid wrappers have given “a magical light.” “It is the example that was needed,” says Coll.