A researcher at Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences is developing an advanced therapeutic method that could prove to be a breakthrough in the treatment of peritoneal cancers that are highly resistant to standard therapies.
Peritoneal cancers, unlike cancers such as breast or colorectal cancer, usually result from metastasis, making their treatment more complex and advanced. In this context, the research conducted by Prof. Agata Mikołajczyk-Martinez of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is extremely valuable. Peritoneal neoplasms represent an extremely difficult clinical problem and, due to their specificity, are not a popular object of scientific research.
One of the most commonly used methods is HIPEC (Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy), which is heated chemotherapy administered directly into the abdominal cavity. In cases where patients do not qualify for HIPEC, an alternative method – PIPAC (Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy) is used, which involves administering the chemotherapeutic agent in aerosol form.
Since 2018, Prof. Agata Mikołajczyk-Martinez has been collaborating with Prof. Vera Khosrawipour, conducting research on new treatments for peritoneal cancer. Their joint work has included testing the feasibility of using liposomes that can be activated by ultrasound at selected sites, allowing drugs to be precisely delivered to where they are needed most. This innovative approach has the potential to reduce side effects and make therapies more effective.
Hyperthermia dehydration – an innovative therapeutic approach
Further collaboration tested the possibility of adding a previously unused therapeutic factor, dehydration, to the familiar hyperthermia and chemotherapy. This method involves temporarily dehydrating and heating tumor cells before administering a chemotherapeutic agent, which increases its permeability and efficacy.
The first tests have been carried out on in vitro models, and the research team is currently working on a prototype device that will allow this procedure to be carried out in animal model studies. This will allow verification of the effectiveness and safety of the innovative method.
Prof. Mikołajczyk-Martinez’s research, although still in the preclinical stage, carries great potential and could affect the lives of thousands of patients around the world. The researcher was invited to join the EUROpean network on MAlignant diseases of Pleura and Peritoneum (EUROMAPP), chaired by Prof. Michael Bau Mortensen of Denmark. This consortium is run within the framework of the European COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) network and brings together the best European scientists within a given field to establish international research collaborations.
In 2022, Agata Mikołajczyk-Martinez’s project to optimize a new method of treating peritoneal cancer by intraperitoneal hyperthermia and gas dehydration combined with aerosol chemotherapy was one of the projects that won in the 13th edition of the National Research and Development Center’s competition under the LIDER program. The researcher received PLN 1.5 million for its implementation.
