Essay Example on Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer related deaths among females

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Disease , Drugs , Medicine

Category:

Health

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460

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2

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5520
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths among females and causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer Siegel et al 2016. Signs and symptoms of this type of cancer are often absent or indefinite in the early stages and many patients have been diagnosed in advanced stages due to a lack of early detection strategies. These patients with advanced stages of ovarian cancer have less than 50 of a five-year survival rate despite the recent developments in chemotherapy Miller et al 2016. A more recent recommended treatment for advanced ovarian cancer is neoadjuvant therapy or the use of chemotherapy or radiation prior to surgery for patients with stage IIIC or IV ovarian cancer to decrease tumor burden and mitigate extensive metastases Morgan et al 2012. In spite of this after initial treatment patients enter into clinical remission and recurrence occurs in 70 of patients some months or years after initial treatment Krasner Duska 2009 Leitao Chi 2009. Moreover, the chance of undetectable and untreated residual disease after chemotherapy and surgery is high Chefetz et al 2013 Craveiro et al 2013. While there are other novel procedures to cure cancer there is still a high recurrence of cancer either leading to a higher stage of cancer or death. In the Philippines ovarian cancer is the 7th most prevalent type of cancer in women with 2.657 new cases and . 610 deaths in 2015 Laudico et al 2015.

In addition onset symptoms for ovarian cancer starting at age 40 and will continue to increase with age. A study in 2009 observed a lower ovarian cancer survival rate in Philippine residents 44 compared to Filipino Americans 51.3 and multivariate analyses presented strong survival disadvantages of Filipinos living in the Philippines compared to Filipino. American patients likely due to differences in access to and affordability of healthcare and treatment Redaniel et al 2009. These findings present a need to find an effective treatment for ovarian cancer, especially in the Philippines. Nanotherapeutics or nanoparticle therapeutics is one of the more promising therapies of ovarian cancer. This method of cancer therapy targets the tumor microenvironment Gomez Raposo et al 2011 enhances the intraperitoneal IP therapy Colson et al 2011 Toraya Brown et al 2012 employs nanocarriers that specifically targets the cancer cells Kim Djazayeri Zeineldin 2011 and inhibits drug resistance Yang et al 2015. Overall nanotherapeutics as medication for cancer improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of conventional treatment methods and improve the efficacy of existing anti-cancer compounds with less toxicity Wicki et al 2015. Various nanotherapeutics have been recently manufactured.
The current therapeutic nanoparticles TNPs used for ovarian cancer therapy are Liposomal doxorubicin Xyotax and IT 101 Liposomal doxorubicin uses PEGylated liposome molecule as its carrier molecule fused with doxorubicin Xyotax is a combination of poly L glutamic acid and paclitaxel and IT 101 consists of camptothecin with a cyclodextrin containing polymer Chen 2010. The use of TNPs lowers the drug clearance and increases half-life implying a more efficient drug delivery Boddy et al 2005 Sutton et al 2007. Also, Xyotax presents promising results as it has a lower incidence of side effects as compared to free paclitaxel and improved drug activity in patients who had received previous heavy treatment Sabbatini et al 2004. A more promising therapeutic agent was also studied. The study of Hijaz et al 2016 utilized nanoceria NCe tagged with folic acid as a therapeutic agent in ovarian cancer. From in vivo studies done in A2780 generated mouse xenografts treated with NCe and NCe FA with cisplatinum mice treated with folic acid and nanoceria had a lower tumor burden compared to NCe without any vital organ toxicity and NCe FA with cisplatinum decreased the tumor burden more significantly Nanoceria combined with folic acid holds a great potential as an effective therapy to ovarian cancer or in combination with conventional chemotherapy.

The aforementioned nanotherapeutic products and their success in tumor-specific treatment suggest that nanotherapeutics are a hugely effective therapy for ovarian cancer. Together with standard chemotherapy, nanotherapeutic agents can be delivered to specific tumors. This type of cancer treatment may entail high acquisition costs but it is justified by its cost-effectiveness especially in ovarian cancer Bosetti Marneffe Vereeck 2013. The use of nanotechnology-based medicines in the Philippines will decrease the number of deaths but will likely cost higher due to the minimal use of nanotherapeutics as a cure for cancer in the country. Commercialization is recommended to lower the prices of nanotherapeutic products to be able to reach patients with lower economic status. The inclusion of nanotherapeutics in national healthcare programs will also help in decreasing personal economic costs in cancer treatment but it will take years of planning and a budget of over a billion pesos before it is approved by the government in the Philippine setting.


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