5^th Asia-Pacific Summit on Cancer Therapy July 20-22, 2015 Brisbane, Australia

Anamaria Orza focuses primarily on the area of development of innovative architectural nano camposites for biomedical applications. Prior to her arrival at Emory in the fall of 2013, Dr. Orza served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Dr.Orza has been recognized as a European Union fellow, receiving her PhD in Chemistry from Babes Bolyai University, Romania and working in close collaboration with Liverpool University, United Kingdom. Dr. Orza has authored and co-authored 2 patents and over 32 papers in leading journals and at leading international conferences in the field (with over 170 citations) and 2 book chapters in the fields of Applied Nanotechnology in Cancer Research and Tissue Engineering.rn

More complex treatments capable of overcoming the ability of cancer stem cells to eliminate anticancer drugs and to reverse their protective functions are urgently needed. For this reason, a combination of traditional treatments and nanotechnology-based approaches offers attractive possibilities. More efficient and less toxic therapeutics that can cross the protective barriers on cancer stem cells are necessary.rnWe report, the synthesis of a new plates like shape gold nanoparticles vector decorated with temozolomide anticancer drug and targeting transferrin molecules as new potential treatmnet for incurable Glioblastoma Multiform. Apoptosis tests revealed an increase in apoptosis among cells exposed to gold nanoparticlesconjugated with temozolomide. We noticed a dramatic enhancement of late apoptosis in the flow cytometry studies by 78.3%, represents a 1.9-fold increase within 24 hours compared with the rate of apoptosis in cells treated with temozolomide alone (31.1%). (Figure. 1 right panel). Similar results were obtained for the microscopic analysis, with the observation that the apoptotic index of cells treated with temozolomide-conjugated with gold nanoparticles was 3.41 times higher than that of cells treated with temozolomide alone (Figure.1 left panel).rn

Thomas Ho-Yin LEUNG is working at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Subpopulation of cells has been suggested to reside in tumors that possess the ability to initiate tumor cell growth and contribute to resistance of cancer therapy. Using flow cytometry and specific cell surface marker, we identified CD71(+) subpopulation possessed cancer stem cell-like characteristics and more radio-resistant than CD71(-). The size of the CD71(+) population was initially examined by flow cytometry using cell surface marker CD71 and was found ranging from 7.4% to >90%. ME180 and C33A have a CD71(+) population of 96.7% and 7.4% respectively and were chosen for the isolation of CD71(+) cells. Anchorage independent soft agar assay revealed enhanced transforming ability in CD71(+) subpopulation cells. Greater resistance to -irradiation were also observed in CD71(+) cells and the fraction of cells expressing CD71 was enriched after irradiation treatment. Furthermore, higher mRNA expressions of certain “stemness” genes, including Oct-4, Nanog, ABCG2 and Bmi-1, were detected in CD71(+) than CD71(-) cells isolated from cervical cancer cell lines and primary cervical cancer cells. In addition, we found that abundant CD71(+) population was detected in HPV-positive cervical cancer cell lines and ectopic expression of HPV-E6 protein in HPV-negative cervical cancer cells (C33A) enriched CD71(+) population. These findings suggest that HPV-E6 enriches CD71(+) population which promote tumor progression and radio-resistance in cervical cancer cells. Targeting CD71 by siRNA or specific anti-CD71 antibody may provide new insight for the establishment of novel strategies and effective therapies for cervical cancer.

Anamaria Orza focuses primarily on the area of development of innovative architectural nano camposites for biomedical applications. Prior to her arrival at Emory in the fall of 2013, Dr. Orza served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Dr.Orza has been recognized as a European Union fellow, receiving her PhD in Chemistry from Babes Bolyai University, Romania and working in close collaboration with Liverpool University, United Kingdom. Dr. Orza has authored and co-authored 2 patents and over 32 papers in leading journals and at leading international conferences in the field (with over 170 citations) and 2 book chapters in the fields of Applied Nanotechnology in Cancer Research and Tissue Engineering

In order to improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment an accurate detection and localization of the tumor is necessary. By combining the Computed Tomography (CT) and Photoacoustic Imaging (PAT), a non-invasive anatomic diagnostic imaging and an intraoperative optical modality would be valuable to provide fine morphological details for accurate tumor detection and localization. Here, I report the development of new contrast agents as dual-modality molecules with extend properties (specific-targeting and therapy capability) able to combine the strengths of both CT and PAT imaging modality with resulted complementary diagnostic information. \\r\\nA new generation of compact multifunctional system composed by uniformly fused components, Au core AgI shells (Au-AgI shell NPs) covered by protecting amphylilic PEGylated spacers and CALNN anchored-targeted transferrin moieties has been synthesized. We prove that the present surface preserved core shell nanoprobes not only have a highly specific and sensitive targeting ability but also induce efficient contrast enhancement in CT imaging. Also, based on their high surface density and NIR response they could enable both efficient targeted diagnosis and therapy