Preserving the Gift of Life Against Cancer's Challenges
Colorado Springs, CO
“It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.”
– Carl Sagan
THE IDEA
There are various types of dyes that selectively penetrate a broad range of cancer cells, and these dyes fluoresce to make it easy to identify tissues during surgery or diagnosis. Although these dyes specifically penetrate tumor cells they have no real therapeutic potential for the treatment of cancer by themselves. Conversely, Gold-nano particles treated with radio waves display efficacy at killing tumor cells, which is independent of a patient’s cancer genetics, drug molecular targets, and stage of cancer. Normally harmless radio waves are absorbed by these particles resulting in heat, and the heat generated only requires a temperature increase of a few degrees to effectively denature tumor cells. BUT, there has been no reliable method to specifically deliver gold nano-particles to cancer cells.
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Lahjavida has developed proprietary technology that combines the dye and gold particles together using a specific chemical linkage that preserves the selective binding characteristics of the dye to cancer cells, providing a delivery system for the gold particles to kill tumor cells.
There are several advantages to our approach illustrated below:
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We can use the dye to identify the cancer cells, wherever they are in the body (diagnosis).​
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The linker chemistry not only preserves the selective binding but enhances it and changes how the dye is taken up, depending on the location of the linker and its characteristics.
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The gold nanoparticles, which are safe for use, can be heated with radio waves, destroying the tumor (treatment).
WHY LAHJAVIDA
It is the goal of Lahjavida, LLC. to develop a compound that will search out cancer cells anywhere in the body, bind to them and then heat them up with radiowaves, treating the tumors they are attached to, leaving healthy surrounding tissue unharmed. It is an idea that sounds too simple to work. We believe we have taken significant steps to demonstrate that it is, in fact, possible to do exactly what we set out to do almost a decade ago. Over the last two years, in conjunction with the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and Dr. Anatoliy Pinchuk’s laboratory, we have shown that the dream of new and more effective treatment of cancer has real hope.
SUMMARY
We have shown that this combination of dye and gold will bind selectively, at very high levels, to cancer cells of three different types. (Cervical, Breast and Colon) The gold we use will heat up when exposed to radiowaves that are harmless to healthy cells. Radiowaves penetrate deep into the body. The concentrations of gold nanoparticles observed in our studies are high enough to destroy cancer cells. Both the gold nano-particles and dye individually, are safe. We are currently testing various forms of the compound in Anschutz School of Pharmacology at UC Denver lab on “organoid” cell models that mimic human tumor tissues. Those studies have demonstrated that the compound not only binds to cancer cells, but it also penetrates deep into larger tumors (Figures 1 and 2). Perhaps most significantly, four leading scientists in cancer research and nano-particle physics believe these results are significant and promising. All have agreed to join us as consultants and collaborators. Currently, Anschutz is performing a toxicity study in mice, to be completed in the first quarter of 2019.
FUNDING
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We need funding to show that the compound will accumulate in the tumors of mice at large enough doses to treat the animal, and to demonstrate that our radiowave machine will heat up the gold while inside the animal. We need continuous funding to enable UC Denver and UCCS to do this work. Lahjavida will create and manufacture the required compound as part of its investment in the effort.