Radiotherapeutic Bandages: Potential New Skin Cancer Treatment

Everyone is constantly awaiting “the next best thing.” This concept also holds true in the arena of skin cancer treatment.

Researchers presented data at the 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, FL, surrounding a radiotherapeutic bandage treatment for patients with skin cancer, specifically against squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

While surgery is the key element in completely removing the SCC, radiation therapy had often been added to the surgical procedure to ensure the removal of any SCC residues.

Also, while radiation therapy was typically used for inoperable tumors or reoccurring lesions, special, burdensome equipment are often required. As such, Anthony Di Pasqua, PhD, assistant professor, University of North Texas System College of Pharmacy, developed the radiotherapeutic bandage as a potential alternative solution for SCC removal — especially when surgery wasn’t fully successful.

To test the efficacy against SCC, Bhuvaneswari Koneru, a graduate student, and Yi Shah, a postdoctoral research associate, conducted a study on mouse models. They incorporated nanoparticles with inactivated 166Ho into polymers to create the bandages. Prior to therapy, the two activated the polymers and placed the bandages on the SCC-afflicted mice for one hour.

After measuring the mice’s resulting tumor sizes for 15 days, the team found a complete elimination in tumors within three of ten mice in the radioactive bandage treatment group and smaller volumes in the remaining seven mice.

For future research to determine the “clinical relevance of the radiotherapeutic bandage,” Di Pasqua and team will study this technology in a larger animal model.