Iranian scientists use milk protein in the production of drug nanocarriers

Researchers from Kharazmi University in Iran have used milk protein to produce drug nanocarriers for targeting the delivery of medicines to treat gastric cancer.

Drugs currently used for the treatment of cancers, particularly gastric cancer, have not been designed in a way that allows targeted delivery, which has meant that large amounts of the drugs must be consumed during the treatment process. In addition to its side effects, this also causes patients financial problems. The researchers therefore tried in this study to design and produce an oral target drug delivery system to treat gastric cancer by using milk proteins.

In this research, casein, one of the important proteins in milk, was used to carry a chemotherapy medicine. Optimal conditions for the production of the drug system at nanometric scale were obtained by changing laboratory conditions such as protein or drug concentrations. The system showed interesting therapeutic properties against gastric cancer in comparison with drugs commonly used, the scientists found.

Results obtained from simulating stomach and intestine media showed that the system slowly releases the drug from the nanocapsule due to the acidic environment of the stomach. It also showed much stronger and more interesting effects in comparison with oxaliplatin free drug (which has not been encapsulated) on gastric cancerous cells.

Studies are being carried out on increasing the target delivery properties of the system, and complementary tests are being carried out to produce the drug.

The results have been published in the journal Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (vol. 14, issue 6, 2014, pp. 892-900).