In the study, children use a nebulizer to inhale cisplatin, a standard cancer drug that has been specially encapsulated in protective fatty protein bubbles. As it the drug is inhaled rather than administered systemically, it can penetrate deep into the lungs and come into direct contact with metastasized bone cancer cells, known as osteosarcoma cells.
The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) is the only pediatric hospital using cisplatin inhalation therapy for osteosarcoma.
“Standard chemotherapy today involves administering drugs through an IV, which can cause considerable side effects including kidney problems and hearing loss,” said Dr Richard Gorlick, chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at CHAM and the study’s principal investigator. “The potential advantage of inhalation therapy is that a higher concentration of the drug can be delivered directly to the cancerous sites in the lungs, with fewer side-effects.”
Montefiore is the lead institution for this study and will be joined eventually in the study by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.