New Breast Cancer Treatment Via Nipple Injection

Scientists are currently working on a new treatment for breast cancer prevention. Through injection of therapeutics via the nipple, this could provide a new way to help those suffering from the health issue or who could be at a greater risk for this type of cancer.

Researchers worked on the process by injecting the medication into mice. The medication works through milk ducts that are used to offer cancer therapy that spares healthy regions of the body from other possibly detrimental side-effects of the medication.

"Local delivery of therapeutic agents into the breast, through intra-nipple injection, could diminish the side effects typically observed with systemic chemotherapy-where the toxic drugs pass through all of the tissues of the body," said Dr. Silva Krause, one of the researchers behind the experiment, via a press release, "It also prevents drug breakdown by the liver, for example, which can rapidly reduce effective drug levels."

According to Krause, she and her colleagues have already begun experimentation in applying the method. "The authors have utilized this technique to inject a new nanoparticle-based therapeutic that inhibits a specific gene that drives breast cancer formation," said Krause, via the release. "This targeted treatment was shown to prevent cancer progression in mice that spontaneously develop mammary tumors, [and] is currently in review in Science Translational Medicine."

"Because the reader can actually watch the process and see how reagents, instruments, and animals are physically handled over time, the likelihood of reproducing this method in their own labs is greatly enhanced," Krause said, via the release. "We believe this will help spread this new technical capability to many labs who are carrying out breast cancer research."

To find out more about the procedure, check out the review via Science Translational Medicine.