Could a single drug treat the two leading causes of death in the US: cancer and cardiovascular disease?
<p>What would you guess are the two biggest killers in the world? Based on media coverage, maybe you guessed gun violence, accidents or COVID-19. But the top two killers are actually cardiovascular disease and cancer. These two diseases combined account for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.051451" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">nearly 50% of deaths in the U.S</a>.</p>
<p>Cardiovascular disease and cancer seem to be quite different on the surface. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c00245" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">newly discovered parallels</a> between the origins and development of these two diseases mean that some treatments may be effective against both.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wD6KbXkAAAAJ&hl=en" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">biomedical engineer</a> who has spent two decades studying and developing ways to improve how drugs travel through the body. It turns out that tiny, engineered nanoparticles that can target specific immune cells may be a way to treat both cancer and cardiovascular disease.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/the-conversation/could-a-single-drug-treat-the-two-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us-cancer-and-cardiovascular-def2f953e599"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>