Although there have been many improvements in cancer treatments, cancer is still quite difficult to treat. One reason is because cancer medicine, called chemotherapy, can be quite difficult for a patient to receive. The medicines are quite strong, and patients taking chemotherapy can experience side effects such as tiredness, hair loss, weight loss, and pain. What if we were able to use a special device so that a patient with cancer could get the chemotherapy only in the cancer cells, without harming his or her healthy cells? This is the goal of researchers who are developing new ways to get drugs only to the cancer cells. These methods of getting the drugs to the cancer cells are called drug delivery vehicles (DDVs). The hope is that if chemotherapy can reach only the cancer cells and leave healthy cells undisturbed, maybe cancer patients could receive a lower dose of medicine, and have fewer of the strong side effects that are usually experienced with chemotherapy.

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