NanoGhosts for a Targeted Fight Against Cancer

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Israel for both men and women, and one of the leading causes of death in the Western world. In light of this tragic fact, cancer research is considered particularly active, and in recent years it is focused on targeted therapies — treatments that aim to more effectively attack cancer cells while reducing general systemic damage, as occurs with broad-spectrum chemotherapy treatments that harm other body organs.

NanoGhost, an Israeli biotech company, introduces one of the most exciting and promising technologies of recent years in this field.[OB1] NanoGhost develops a highly selective first-in-class drug targeting platform (NanoGhosts/NGs) from the cell membrane of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cells with known tropism to cancer and sites of inflammation. NGs are equipped with the MSCs inherent ability to target cancer, can be loaded with a variety of drugs such as small molecules, proteins, mRNA or other nucleic acids. The entrepreneur who conceived this revolutionary technology is Prof. Marcelle Machluf, the outgoing dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion and a leading researcher in the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy and tissue engineering. NanoGhost harnesses the natural tropism of MSCs to cancer in a drug targeting platform.