Biography
Biography: Donglu Shi
Abstract
Cell targeting in cancer therapy has been a great challenge due to the heterogeneities of cancer biomarkers. The key, therefore, is to develop a new targeting strategy that does not rely on biomarkers.A general hallmark of cancer cells is the much increased level of glycolysis. The loss of the highly mobile lactate from the cytoplasm inevitably removes the labile inorganic cations to form lactic salts and acids as part of the lactate cycle, creating a net negative surface charge. This net negative charge on cancer cell surfaces distinguishes them from normal cells. In this study, cancer cells are targeted by using the negative charge to advantage via a fluorescent, superparamagnetic Fe3O4-nanocomposite, which has a positive surface charge. The positively charged Fe3O4 nanocomposite binds predominantly to cancer cells due to their negative surface charge. This simple strategy provides a new path for effective cancer cell targeting and treatment without relying on biochemical markers.