“Investigating the optimal size of anticancer nanomedicine” published in PNAS

A joint publication between senior authors Profs. A.L. Ferguson, W.G. Helferich, T.M. Fan, and J. Cheng “Investigating the optimal size of anticancer nanomedicine” appears in the 28 Oct issue of PNAS. Prof. Ferguson led the development of simple ODE models of the trafficking and retention of nanoparticles into multicellular tumor spheroids to predict an optimal nanoparticle size of 50 nm, in excellent agreement with experimental work led by the other senior authors. This particle size represents an optimal trade-off between rapid permeation into tumor tissue and long retention times, providing deep and enduring accumulation of the anticancer payload within tumor tissue. These predictive models are of great value in exposing the mechanisms of nanoparticle trafficking and guiding the rational engineering and design of new nanomedicines.