Nanomedicine, used in Covid vaccines, becomes a bet to treat diseases

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

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

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 that is equivalent to a billionth of a meter, he explains.

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

With nanomedicine, “we manufacture structures similar in size to viruses. When we join molecules in a nanoparticle, this generates new and multiple functions, this is the interest of the nano-object”, explains Coll.

Much of the world’s population has seen these particles up close since messenger RNA anti-Covid vaccines use them.

In this case, the lipid nanoparticles are responsible for transporting the RNA and protecting it within the body until it is delivered to its destination.

It’s just one of many applications in nanomedicine. Nanoparticles can transport a drug to its target or allow the use of an active ingredient that could not be administered until now, with potential for use in various fields, such as diagnostics, regenerative medicine or oncology.

Applications against cancer

On the outskirts of Paris, in Villejuif, the biotechnology 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 ability to absorb radiation.

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

“Radiotherapy causes damage before and after the tumor, which limits the use of strong doses”, explains Laurent Levy, founder of this company.

To avoid this problem, “we are going to introduce small objects locally that go into the cancer cell and that will absorb the radiation energy. This product will increase the effectiveness without increasing the toxicity outside the tumor”, he adds.

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 normally doesn’t happen, says Levy.

The company, listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges, has started a clinical trial to study this immune action.

And they’re not the only ones, there are other trials underway at more advanced stages for brain and throat tumors. It is an expanding field.

Another French company, NH TherAguix, is developing a nanodrug to improve the treatment of tumors by radiotherapy.

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

“Nanomedicine is rich in applications, but it is delayed by the nature of the objects handled and by the difficulty of obtaining a product whose composition is guaranteed in each batch”, says Jean-Luc Coll.

But “we’re halfway there” and despite the lack of funding in nanomedicine, messenger RNA vaccines and their nanolipid casings have brought “a magical light”. “It’s the example that was needed,” says Coll.