三陰性乳癌新進展-奈米級白蛋白載體新藥
有「乳癌殺手」之稱之三陰性乳癌好發於40歲前，且其來自於名為BRCA-1基因所發生之變異疾病，也是讓女星安潔莉娜裘莉發現自己具有BRCA基因變異後，選擇切除乳房作為預防癌症發生之主因，近年來透過癌細胞基因解密讓乳癌分類更加明朗化，乳癌基因表現大致分為三類:雌激素受體(ER)、黃體素受體(PR)、人類上皮生長受體第二對(HER-2)，如癌細胞三種基因表現皆為陰性則歸類為「三陰性乳癌」，目前是臨床上治癒率最低、復發率最高之乳癌類型，導致選用標靶藥物存在諸多限制，病患仍使用化學治療為主。
近日，高雄醫學大學方逸萍副教授及其研究生林欣哲之論文刊登於國際知名藥劑領域期刊，研究中指出「抗癌藥SN-38 白蛋白奈米載體」是針對三陰性乳癌新劑型藥物，SN-38為有強大抗癌活性之喜樹鹼衍生物，但因難溶於水且副作用大等特性限制了其於臨床上之應用；為此，方老師研究團隊藉由研發白蛋白奈米載體結合SN-38之技術克服其於臨床使用限制。白蛋白為人體內生性蛋白所構成，是血漿中最豐富蛋白質、能維持血漿滲透壓、運送血液營養物等，除了是人體中不可或缺之蛋白質外，也容易被代謝且不易致敏，利用白蛋白結構中之親水性及親脂性特質，可有效將SN-38包裹在奈米粒子之間。方老師研究團隊所合成之「抗癌藥SN-38 白蛋白奈米載體」經細胞實驗證實：可有效抑制三陰性乳癌細胞株生長，且白蛋白奈米粒子可增加SN-38進入癌細胞之有效劑量，且SN-38從奈米粒子釋出後更可標靶精準毒殺癌細胞。
乳癌有逐漸年輕化之趨勢，多數年輕患者在發現乳癌當下，家庭與事業皆處於黃金時期，一旦確診三陰性乳癌除了生理上不適，心裡也會帶來諸多壓力，期待新劑型開發能順利進行，未來上市後作為治療三陰性乳癌之新選擇。 
本篇為高雄醫學大學2019年月傑出論文11月份得獎文章，代表作者為藥學系方逸萍副教授。
本校主要研究者之簡介
研究聯繫Email:
ypfang@kmu.edu.tw
期刊出處:
Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 569
期刊線上參閱網址:
The Progress in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Research Continues: the albumin nano drug carrier
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), related to BRCA1 mutation, is an aggressive breast cancer common in female younger than age 40. Potentially being in the TNBC population, the actress Angelina Jolie made the difficult decision to undergo a preventative mastectomy due to the alarming nature of TNBC. Lacking estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2 receptor, TNBC has limited options on targeted medications, which results in low survival rate and high recurrence among the breast cancer subtypes.
Recently, Professor Yi-Ping Fang with graduate student Hsin-Che Lin in Kaohsiung Medical University published a research on “anticancer agent SN-38 entrapped albumin nanoparticles to TNBC.” SN-38 is a camptothecin derivative with very potent anticancer effect. The clinical application of SN-38, however, is limited by its low solubility and serious adverse effects. For this reason, Professor Fang’s team proposed a solution to combine SN-38 with albumin carrier, considering albumin is not only one of the most abundant protein in human and maintains osmotic pressure, delivers substances in blood circulation, but also can be easily metabolized and further eliminated. By utilizing the natural amphiphilic property of albumin, Professor Fang’s team developed a procedure to formulate SN-38 in albumin nanoparticles which further showed promising targeting effect by accumulation these albumin nanoparticles in TNBC cell line to suppress TNBC cell line growth.
Upon the trend of younger breast cancer diagnosed such as TNBC in this case, majority of breast cancer patients are at their pinnacle of life and career, and this disease only brings serious distress physically and mentally. Through this research, the contribution to the solution to the unmet TNBC clinical need may be expected, with the ultimate goal in mind, to improve TNBC patients’ quality of life.
This article-“High Potency of SN-38-Loaded Bovine Serum Albumin Nanoparticles Against Triple- Negative Breast Cancer” , written by Rept. Author Associate Professor Yi-Ping Fang from School of Pharmacy, is award for Kaohsiung Medical University 2019 Monthly Excellent Paper Award in Nov.
Main researcher Intro.
Author Email: ypfang@kmu.edu.tw
Paper cited from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 569
Paper online website: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31683822/
