"Attaching curcumin a component of the common spice turmeric to nanoparticles can be used to target and destroy treatmentresistant neuroblastoma tumor cells according to a new study published in Nanoscale. The study conducted in partnership by researchers at Nemours Childrens Hospital and the University of Central Florida demonstrates a potentially novel treatment for neuroblastoma the most common cancer in infants.  Highrisk neuroblastoma can be resistant to traditional therapy and survival can be poor. This research demonstrates a novel method of treating this tumor without the toxicity of aggressive therapy that can also have late effects on the patients health said Tamarah J. Westmoreland MD PhD a pediatric surgeon at Nemours Childrens Health System and senior author of the study. Unique approaches to target tumor cells with nanoparticle delivery systems hold promise for treatment of resistant tumors such as the high risk neuroblastoma. We are hopeful that in the future nanoparticles can be utilized to personalize care to patients and reduce the late effects of therapy.  Neuroblastomas are cancers that start in early nerve cells and commonly form in the tissue of the adrenal glands near the kidneys. About  new cases of neuroblastoma are diagnosed each year in the United States and most cases appear in children younger than  years old. Highrisk neuroblastoma is hard to cure and is more likely to become resistant to standard therapies or recur. These cancers are also associated with late effects after treatments have ended including developmental delays hearing loss or other disabilities.  Curcumin has been shown to have substantial anticancer ability but its low solubility and poor stability have made its use in medicinal applications challenging. Researchers from Nemours and UCF found that nanoparticles can be used to deliver curcumin to tumor sites.  This shows that nanoparticles can be an effective delivery vehicle for cancer drugs said Professor Sudipta Seal who directs of UCFs NanoScience Technology Center and Advanced Materials Processing Analysis Center and is a collaborator on the study. More research is needed but we are hopeful it could lead to more effective treatment of this devastating disease in the future. In the study researchers loaded Cerium oxide nanoparticles with curcumin and coated them with dextran to test in cell lines of a highrisk form of neuroblastoma known as MYCNamplified as well as nonamplified neuroblastoma. This formulation induced substantial cell death in neuroblastoma cells while producing no or only minor toxicity in healthy cells. Overall the nanotherapeutic treatments showed a more pronounced effect in MYCNamplified cells which are traditionally more resistant to drug therapies. Nanoscience research which explores the unusual properties of materials at the nanoscale has led to advancements in medicine energy information storage computing and other fields. At no more than  nanometers nanoparticles are exceedingly small. By comparison a sheet of paper is about  nanometers thick.  This study was conducted in a laboratory setting in Orlando Fla. at Nemours Childrens Hospital and the University of Central Florida in cells from children with neuroblastoma but researchers hope to begin to use these curcumin nanoparticles with micro RNA in animal models to direct the molecule to a tumor site. This research is an excellent example of the collaboration between Nemours Childrens Hospital and the University of Central Florida. Funding of this work was supported by the Nemours Foundation along with the regional economic development initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor."