Mr. Sachin Naik, Research scholar currently writing a thesis on “Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems For Breast Cancer Therapy” supervised by Professor Ambikanandan Misra, at Pharmacy Department, Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Technology & Engineering, Kalabhavan ,The Maharaja Sayarjirao University of Baroda has been awarded as a “Scholar-in-Training Award” by American Association of Cancer Research (sponsored by Avon) in the amount of $2000 to support his presentation at the Advances in Breast Cancer Research Special Conference being held October 13-16, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, California. The presentation is entitled “INTRACELLUAR DELIVERY OF DOCETAXEL ENCAPSULATED RGD GRAFTED PLGA NANOPARTICLES ON BREAST CANCER CELL LINE” authored by Sachin Naik*, Deepa Patel, Naazneen Surti and Ambikanandan Misra (*Presenting author).

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in India. According to a study by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there will be approximately 250,000 new cases of breast cancer in India by 2015. At present, India reports around 100,000 new cases annually. One out of every 22 women in India is diagnosed with breast cancer. The rise in incidence of 0.5–2% per annum has been seen across all regions of India and in all age groups but more so in the younger age groups (< 45 years).Breast cancer cells most commonly spread to the bone, soft tissue (breast skin, other lymph nodes), lung, lining of the lung, liver, and brain, but metastasis can occur anywhere in the body. The three major treatments of breast cancer currently available are surgery, radiation, and drug therapy. However none of the aforesaid treatment fits every patient and combination therapy is usually required. Chemotherapy drugs are "cytotoxic" (cell-killing) drugs. They are given orally or by injection. Because chemotherapy can't tell the difference between normal cells and cancer cells, it attacks any rapidly dividing cells. This includes hair cells and the cells lining the inside of the mouth, stomach, and intestines. Hence, there is a need of safe and effective drug delivery system to cure the Breast cancer with no side effects.

The awarded research work is on the development of RGD grafted docetaxel PLGA nanoparticles for breast cancer therapy. Which includes the preparation of the Docetaxel (anticancer drug) encapsulation in Poly lactide-co glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles with the size range of 200-300nm. PLGA being a biodegradable polymer does not produce any side effect and carries the drug to the cancer cell. Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic acid (RGD) attachment to the nanoparticles provides breast cancer cells specific drug delivery. In vitro cytotoxicity study reveals that the RGD grafted nanoparticles systems are 4 fold more effective as compared to free drug solution on breast cancer cells at equivalent drug concentration. The RGD grafted nanoparticles systems also arrest high amount of DNA in the cell cycle phase G2 and produces more apoptotic cell fragment by initiating programmed cell death. The work in progress to provide meaningful contribution to the knowledge of Breast cancer therapy.