Solid Tumour

 INTRODUCTION

Solid tumors are the second most common cause of death in the western world. Besides very few successes in rare solid tumors such as testicular cancer, the survival rate of most of these tumors is still low. Solid tumor is an abnormal mass of tissue that usually does not contain cysts or liquid areas. Solid tumors may be benign (not cancer), or malignant (cancer). Different types of solid tumors are named for the type of cells that form them. Examples of solid tumors are sarcomas, carcinomas, and lymphomas.

THE UNIQUE PHYSIOLOGY OF SOLID TUMORS: (AND PROBLEMS) FOR CANCER THERAPY

These physiological differences can be problems for cancer treatment; for example,

(a) hypoxia-selective cytotoxins take advantage of the unique low oxygen tension in the majority of human solid tumors. Tirapazamine, a drug in the final stages of clinical trials, is one of the more promising of these.

(b) Leaky tumor blood vessels can be exploited using liposomes that have been sterically stabilized to have a long intravascular half-life, allowing them to selectively accumulate in solid tumors.

(c) The tumor microenvironment is a stimulus to angiogenesis, and inhibition of angiogenesis can be a powerful anticancer therapy not susceptible to acquired drug resistance.

DETECTION OF SOLID TUMORS

 1) NANOTECHNOLOGY

- Nanotechnology, although still in its infantile stages, has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of disease progression and success of therapy for numerous diseases and conditions, not least of which is cancer.

- As it is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, early cancer detection, as well as safe and efficacious therapeutic intervention, will be indispensable in improving the prognosis related to cancers and overall survival rate, as well as health-related quality of life of patients diagnosed with cancer.

- Of particular relevance in cancer, nanosystems have shown appreciable success in the realm of diagnosis and treatment. Research into the development of nanosystems for cancer diagnosis and therapy is thus a rapidly emerging.

2) MOLECULAR TESTING

- The world of molecular profiling has undergone revolutionary changes over the last few years as knowledge, technology, and even standard clinical practice have evolved. Broad molecular profiling is now nearly essential for all patients with metastatic solid tumors.

- Molecular profiling methodologies have likewise changed such that tests that were performed on patients a few years ago are no longer complete and possibly inaccurate today.

TREATMENT OF SOLID TUMOR

1) CHEMOPHOTOTHERAPY

- An emerging treatment near infrared (NIR) light penetrates human tissues with limited depth, thereby providing a method to safely deliver non‐ionizing radiation to well‐defined target tissue volumes.

-  Light‐based therapies including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and laser‐induced thermal therapy have been validated clinically for curative and palliative treatment of solid tumors.

- The combination of phototherapy and chemotherapy (chemophototherapy, CPT), when carefully planned, has been shown to be an effective tumor treatment option preclinically and clinically.

- Chemotherapy can enhance the efficacy of PDT by targeting surviving cancer cells or by inhibiting regrowth of damaged tumor blood vessels. CPT can potently eradicate tumors with precise spatial control, and further clinical testing is warranted.

2) PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

- Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the administration of photosensitizer followed by local illumination with visible light of specific wavelength(s). In the presence of oxygen molecules, the light illumination of photosensitizer can lead to a series of photochemical reactions and consequently the generation of cytotoxic species. The quantity and location of PDT-induced cytotoxic species determine the nature and consequence of PDT.

REFERENCE

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147655860480006X

- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/advs.201600106

- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/153303460800700405

BY : SUDHIR KUMAR SAH (sudhirkumar99091@gmail.com)

B.sc.MLT 5 th SEMESTER, NOBEL COLLEGE