Conventional cancer treatment has revolved around chemotherapies, radiation, and surgery. However, advancements in bioengineering are conquering the limitations of chemotherapy in cancer care, granting other avenues for consideration. Bioengineering, which acts as the bridge between biology and engineering, is currently putting innovative solutions ahead in fighting against cancer that have fewer side effects. According to Dr. Curtis Cripe, the founder of the NTL group as well as Crossroads Institute, the potential of bioengineering is now paving the way showing the dawn in cancer treatment ranging from personalized medicines to cutting-edge therapies.
Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Treatment to the Individual
Perhaps the most promising advancements in cancer treatment have been the birth of personalized medicine, an innovation made possible by bioengineering. Rather than treating every patient based on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, of conventional chemotherapy, personalization has made it possible to deploy genetic profiling and bioengineering – providing a more fitting medical solution for the individual patient.
By studying the genetics of both the patient’s cancer and healthy cells, scientific research is then able to identify individual mutations, creating therapies that are tailored to attack that specific genetic marker. All of these means for more effective and personalized treatment come with lower chances of side effects.
Immunotherapy: Enhancing the Defense System of the Body
Immunotherapy is another state-of-the-art development in the field of the treatment of cancer that makes use of the body’s immune system to counteract cancer. The importance of bioengineering in developing immunotherapy is, above all, the enhancement of the body’s natural capacity to recognize and destroy cancerous cells.
One such treatment, CAR-T cell therapy, uses the very same principle. In the case of CAR-T therapy, T-cells are bio-engineered in the lab in such a way that they can recognize specific cancer markers or tumors found on the surface of those cancer cells. Once those engineered T-cells are infused back into the body, they are supposed to seek out and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
Immunotherapy is already changing the use of cancer treatment by exploiting the body’s defense mechanisms to attack the tumor. This bioengineering innovation is actually producing quite an impressive result, more so in the context of blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Bioengineering in Early Detection and Drug Delivery
Rather than focusing only on developing treatment methods, Bioengineering also works seamlessly for the early detection of cancer and drug delivery. Bio-engineered sensors and nanotechnology can detect cancer much earlier than traditional imaging approaches, as these sensors can pick out biomarkers or cancer-specific proteins on a cellular level, making intervention possible and outcomes better for patients says Dr. Curtis Cripe.
Sensors have also allowed bioengineering to advance new technologies behind targeted drug delivery. Certain nanoparticles can be engineered to deliver chemotherapy drugs specifically to the site of the tumor, thus limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue. That will not only help to increase the efficacy of the drug, it will also minimize many of the severe side effects associated with traditional chemotherapy.
To conclude, Bioengineering has evolved more quickly than anyone could ever imagine and now seems prepared to provide great promises in the treatment of cancer in the upcoming years. Researchers are busy developing even more new methodologies, from CRISPR gene-editing technologies that enable the direct changing of cancer-causing genes.
