Iranian Scientists Take Long Strides towards Treatment of Ovarian Cancer by Using Nanotechnology

A drug carrier is a substrate used in the process of drug delivery which serves to improve the selectivity, effectiveness, and/or safety of drug administration. Drug carriers are primarily used to control the release of drugs into systemic circulation. This can be accomplished either by slow release of a particular drug over a long period of time (typically diffusion) or by triggered release at the drug's target by some stimulus, such as changes in pH, application of heat, and activation by light.

A large variety of materials, specially nanostructures, are used as drug carriers. Graphene is one of the materials that can be used to this end.

Several points should be paid attention in studying drug carriers; first, production of the drug carrier; second, checking the amount of adsorption of the anti-cancer drug, and third, the release rate of the medicine by the drug carrier when it approaches the cancer cell.

In this line, the Fund for Supporting Researchers in Iran has provided supports for researches that have studied the conditions of using graphene as a drug carrier to pave the ground for making anti-cancer drugs.

Prof. Ali Akbar Khaandaar in Tabriz University used nanotechnology to produce a drug carrier which included zinc ferrite nanostructure and graphene to carry anti-ovarian cancer medicine that can increase the drug's capability to attack cancer cells.

Iran has made huge progress in different sciences and technologies in recent years.

Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari announced that Iran stood atop the nations of the region in the production of science and technology.

"Now, Iran ranks first in the region in science and technology," Sattari said.

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