Capturing chemotherapy drugs before they can cause side effects

摘要

Although chemotherapy can kill cancer cells very effectively,healthy cells also suffer.If doctors could remove excess chemotherapy drags from a patient's bloodstream after the medicines have done their job,they might reduce side effects such as hair loss and nausea.Now,researchers have developed a 3D-printed device that absorbs excess chemo drags before they spread throughout the body.They report then-results in ACS Central Science.Doxorubicin,like many chemotherapy drugs,kills more tumor cells when given at higher doses.However,most patients cannot tolerate large amounts of the drug because it can cause heart failure,among other side effects.Nitash Balsara,Steven Herts,Joseph DeSimone,Hee Jeung Oh and colleagues wondered if they could make a device that would filter out doxorubicin from blood at locations outside of the tumor to reduce the likelihood that the drag would harm healthy cells.