Technology Overview

Despite medical advancements in radiotherapy and chemotherapy, breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women and the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly half a million deaths annually.

This technology offers a new class of nanomedicine using plant-derived nanovesicles (PDNV). Nanovesicles are 50–150 nm small extracellular vesicles that harbor proteins, lipids, RNAs, and DNA, and thereby act as important mediators of cell-cell communications in various physiological and pathological pathways. PDNV are isolated from ginger, pomegranate, and yam which exhibits a potential anti-cancer effect that is mediated through proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

This technology demonstrated remarkable resistance to harsh conditions, such as the acidic and digestive enzyme-rich environment of the stomach, prospecting their use for oral administration. Not only would this be more acceptable to and confirmable for patients, especially children, than intravenous.

As PDNV is in nanoparticle size, it allows quicker dissolution in the blood and enhances the efficacy of ginger, pomegranate, and yam in PDNVs by increasing their bioavailability.

Potential Applications

Plant-derived nanovesicles are now well recognised as a potential candidate for novel therapeutic agents and targeting of drugs, biomolecules, and contrast agents. The usage of medicinal plant has been practiced in traditional medicine for thousands of years and offer opportunities for the incorporation in modern pharmaceutical. The variety of PDNV from different plant sources may provide far more treatment options than synthetic drugs and protein medicines.

Customer Benefit

Benefits of plant-derived nanovesicles as anticancer drugs include :

• Reliable, minimally invasive clinical treatment for cancer patients
• Remarkable resistance to harsh conditions
• Oral therapeutics
• Safe, nontoxic
• More biocompatible than synthetic vectors allowing economically large scale production