Nanotechnology as a drug delivery in Cancer Treatment

What is Cancer ?

Cancer is a leading cause of death and remains a difficult disease to treat. It was estimated that there would be 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer-related deaths by 2018 (Global cancer statistics 2018). Besides, cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation that spreads to other parts of the organs to cause death. Moreover, cancers can be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign means tend to grow slowly and do not spread to other organs meanwhile malignant can grow rapidly, invade and destroy nearby healthy tissues, and spread to whole parts of the body. Therefore, current technology as nanotechnology are being used to treat cancer.

How Does Nanotechnology as a Drug Delivery?

A nanotechnology is a great tool in the fight against cancer. It is safer and more precise. This application has led to several promising results in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Not only that, it includes drug delivery, gene therapy, detection and diagnosis, drug carriage, biomarker mapping, targeted therapy, and molecular imaging.

The nanotechnology cancer treatments work to destroy cancer tumors with minimal damage to healthy tissue and organs, as well as the detection and elimination of cancer cells before they form tumors.

However, nanotechnology diagnoses and treats disease at a very tiny scale. Frankly, the particles are 100 to 10,000 times smaller than human cells. Because of their small size, they can locate and kill cancer more precisely than current cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy. However, many drugs are insoluble, so it difficult to administer. These compounds can be “solubilize” by combining them with organic or lipid nanoparticles, which keep them in circulation for longer periods, or by forming them into crystalline Nano suspensions stabilized by surfactants.

Nanotechnology treatments, for instance, the development of nanoscale drug delivery, can ensure precise cancerous tissue targeting with low side effects. Thus, it can easily cross the cell barrier due to its biological nature.

The tiny size of nanoparticles allows them to deliver medicines into which areas of the part of the human body that be hard to reach. For instance, the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier prevents foreign substances from entering into the brain and also prevents some medications from being absorbed. As a result of their small size, nanoparticles can pass through this barrier, making them a useful treatment for brain cancer.

Nanotechnology Tools Used in Cancer Diagnosis

Nanotechnology can validate cancer imaging at the tissue, cell, and molecular levels, according to current research. Its use in the development of nanomaterials, which include the following:

Near Infrared (NIR) Quantum Dots
Nanoshells
Colloidal Gold Nanoparticles

Is Nanotechnology Now in Use?

Nanotechnology has been used for more than a decade by doctors to treat cancer. For instance, abraxane and doxil, aid in the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs.

Abraxane is a nanoparticle made of the protein albumin and the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. It inhibits the division of cancer cells. Furthermore, this medication to treat breast cancer and pancreatic cancer that already spread to other parts of the body and non-small-cell lung cancer.

Doxil known as doxorubicin will wrap in a liposome, which is a fatty sac. It disrupts cancer genes, preventing cancer cells from dividing. This drug use to treat cancers of the ovary, multiple myeloma, and Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Does Nanotechnology for Cancer Have Side Effects?

Nanotechnology more precisely targets cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues. However, nanotechnology drugs may have fewer side effects than chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In the case of nanotechnology-based treatments, abraxane and doxil do cause side effects which are weight loss, nausea, and diarrhea.

References:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Raihan Ridzuan

Raihan Ridzuan, Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is Customer Relationship Executive of Mayflax, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing company

Factors That Affect Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. It is abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries, which are the blood vessels that carries blood from the heart to the whole body.

In about 95 percent of cases, the cause of hypertension is unknown and affects many individuals who do not know they have the condition. These cases are classified as essential hypertension. However, high blood pressure is the main risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and eye problems. When blood pressure level is increased, the heart and arteries have to work harder than normal to pump blood through the body. Thus, overload may lead to thickens the muscles of the heart and arteries or damages artery walls.

As a result, damage to the heart caused by the extra work and a lack of oxygen causes heart disease. When blood pressure is high, the artery and blood vessel walls may be damaged over time. This leads to dangerous complications and life-threatening.

Besides, many factors such as genes, kidney disease, some medications, and lifestyle can affect blood pressure. Lifestyle factors play a key role in balancing our blood pressure.

However, there are some known key factors that increase your risk:

1. Age

Age is one of the factors that contribute to high blood pressure. Our arteries are stiffening with age. Sixty percent of people above 60 years of age likely to have high blood pressure.

2. Exercise

Physical activity elevated the cardiac output and therefore the blood pressure. The recommended, resting after exercises is about 20 to 30 minutes for the following exercise to reduce it.

3. Stress

Stress will stimulate the sympathetic nervous system which increases the cardiac output and vasoconstriction of the arterioles, thus, increasing the blood pressure reading.

4. Sex

Usually, after puberty, females have a lower blood pressure than males of the same age.

These differences are thought to be caused by hormonal variation. Women in general after menopause have a high blood pressure than in the past.

5. Medication

When, medications or drug that alter one or more of the previous prescription it can be one of the factors that changed blood pressure, including caffeine, diuretics that reduce blood volume, narcotics, analgesia and specific antihypertensive agents.

6. Obesity

Hypertension may be predisposed to childhood and adult obesity. Also, obesity increases the risk of developing high blood pressure by 6% over the next four years. The greatest risk is extra body fat.

7. Inheritance

Hypertension tends to occur in families. You are at higher risk of having high blood pressure if you have a close relative. In some families, genetics are strong for both parents who have high blood pressure. However, the inheritance pattern is unknown.

8. Drinking Alcohol

Researchers have concluded that there is a strong link between binge drinking alcohol and high blood pressure. Regular heavy or binge drinking can also cause significant increases in blood pressure, sometimes extreme enough to cause a stroke. However, alcohol may also have an impact on the efficacy of blood pressure-lowering drugs.

9. Smoking

Whether you smoke or people close to you do, the effects can be damage to the heart. Your heart will not work properly as before. Moreover, smoking causes your blood vessels to shrink which making your heart work even harder.

10. Too much salt

Salt, or sodium chloride, has been used to flavor and preserve foods for thousands of years and is also found in a wide variety of foods.

When sodium increases in our blood, the blood vessels will retain water and try to balance the sodium concentration. As a result, this extra water increases the volume of blood in vessels that cause high blood pressure.

Taking too much salt can cause high blood pressure. The maximum recommended intake of salt is less than 6 grams per day.

Tips to help improve blood pressure

Figure 1. Tips to improve blood pressure.

Reduce salt intake

Eat enough potassium

Consume a balanced diet
Maintain a healthy body weight
Be physically active
Limit alcohol intake
Don’t smoke

What Is the Blood Pressure Range?

A blood pressure reading is 120/80. The top number “120” is called the systolic, and bottom number “80” is called the diastolic. The ranges are:

Normal: Less than 120 over 80 (120/80)
Elevated: 120-129/less than 80
Stage 1 high blood pressure: 130-139/80-89
Stage 2 high blood pressure: 140 and above/90 and above
Hypertension crisis: higher than 180/higher than 120

Steps to measuring blood pressure

Figure 2. Steps to measuring blood pressure

In summary, hypertension is one of the main risk factors for the development of heart disease and stroke. Our blood pressure is influenced by several factors. So, we need to stop smoking, stay active, eat balance diet and limit the intakes of salt and alcohol to reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Not just all that, medication also important to treat who are diagnosed with this disease.

At mayflax, we provide pharmaceutical products to a clinic and hospital. We also serve hypertension medications. Thus, by dealing with us, you will be able to enjoy a large selection of pharmaceutical products at affordable prices.

If you want to know more about us, you can contact us or sign up here.

References:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Raihan Ridzuan

Raihan Ridzuan, Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is Customer Relationship Executive of Mayflax, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing company.

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