PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Pills of the future: Nanoparticles

2013-11-28
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Sarah McDonnell
s_mcd@mit.edu
617-253-8923
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pills of the future: Nanoparticles CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Drugs delivered by nanoparticles hold promise for targeted treatment of many diseases, including cancer. However, the particles have to be injected into patients, which has limited their usefulness so far.

Now, researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a new type of nanoparticle that can be delivered orally and absorbed through the digestive tract, allowing patients to simply take a pill instead of receiving injections.

In a paper appearing in the Nov. 27 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, the researchers used the particles to demonstrate oral delivery of insulin in mice, but they say the particles could be used to carry any kind of drug that can be encapsulated in a nanoparticle. The new nanoparticles are coated with antibodies that act as a key to unlock receptors found on the surfaces of cells that line the intestine, allowing the nanoparticles to break through the intestinal walls and enter the bloodstream.

This type of drug delivery could be especially useful in developing new treatments for conditions such as high cholesterol or arthritis. Patients with those diseases would be much more likely to take pills regularly than to make frequent visits to a doctor's office to receive nanoparticle injections, say the researchers.

"If you were a patient and you had a choice, there's just no question: Patients would always prefer drugs they can take orally," says Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and an author of the Science Translational Medicine paper.

Lead authors of the paper are former MIT grad student Eric Pridgen and former BWH postdoc Frank Alexis, and the senior author is Omid Farokhzad, director of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials at BWH. Other authors are Timothy Kuo, a gastroenterologist at BWH; Etgar Levy-Nissenbaum, a former BWH postdoc; Rohit Karnik, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Richard Blumberg, co-director of BWH's Biomedical Research Institute.

No more injections

Several types of nanoparticles carrying chemotherapy drugs or short interfering RNA, which can turn off selected genes, are now in clinical trials to treat cancer and other diseases. These particles exploit the fact that tumors and other diseased tissues are surrounded by leaky blood vessels. After the particles are intravenously injected into patients, they seep through those leaky vessels and release their payload at the tumor site.

For nanoparticles to be taken orally, they need to be able to get through the intestinal lining, which is made of a layer of epithelial cells that join together to form impenetrable barriers called tight junctions.

"The key challenge is how to make a nanoparticle get through this barrier of cells. Whenever cells want to form a barrier, they make these attachments from cell to cell, analogous to a brick wall where the bricks are the cells and the mortar is the attachments, and nothing can penetrate that wall," Farokhzad says.

Researchers have previously tried to break through this wall by temporarily disrupting the tight junctions, allowing drugs through. However, this approach can have unwanted side effects because when the barriers are broken, harmful bacteria can also get through.

To build nanoparticles that can selectively break through the barrier, the researchers took advantage of previous work that revealed how babies absorb antibodies from their mothers' milk, boosting their own immune defenses. Those antibodies grab onto a cell surface receptor called the FcRN, granting them access through the cells of the intestinal lining into adjacent blood vessels.

The researchers coated their nanoparticles with Fc proteins — the part of the antibody that binds to the FcRN receptor, which is also found in adult intestinal cells. The nanoparticles, made of a biocompatible polymer called PLA-PEG, can carry a large drug payload, such as insulin, in their core.

After the particles are ingested, the Fc proteins grab on to the FcRN in the intestinal lining and gain entry, bringing the entire nanoparticle along with them.

"It illustrates a very general concept where we can use these receptors to traffic nanoparticles that could contain pretty much anything. Any molecule that has difficulty crossing the barrier could be loaded in the nanoparticle and trafficked across," Karnik says.

Breaking through barriers

In this study, the researchers demonstrated oral delivery of insulin in mice. Nanoparticles coated with Fc proteins reached the bloodstream 11-fold more efficiently than equivalent nanoparticles without the coating. Furthermore, the amount of insulin delivered was large enough to lower the mice's blood sugar levels.

The researchers now hope to apply the same principles to designing nanoparticles that can cross other barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier, which prevents many drugs from reaching the brain.

"If you can penetrate the mucosa in the intestine, maybe next you can penetrate the mucosa in the lungs, maybe the blood-brain barrier, maybe the placental barrier," Farokhzad says.

They are also working on optimizing drug release from the nanoparticles in preparation for further animal tests, either with insulin or other drugs. ### The research was funded by a Koch-Prostate Cancer Foundation Award in Nanotherapeutics; the National Cancer Institute Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at MIT-Harvard; a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology Award; and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Written by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New research shows pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of death of the fetus or infant child

2013-11-28
New research shows pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of death of the fetus or infant child New research shows that pre-existing diabetes in pregnant women greatly increases the risk of death of their unborn fetus by around four-and-a-half ...

Geriatric care may help older patients become independent again after car accident or other trauma

2013-11-28
Geriatric care may help older patients become independent again after car accident or other trauma Senior patients with traumatic injuries ranging from rib fractures to head injuries are more dependent on others for daily living activities a year later ANN ...

EU fishing fleets reap profits while taxpayers foot the bill

2013-11-28
EU fishing fleets reap profits while taxpayers foot the bill The European Union's taxpayers are paving the way for fishing fleets to reel in valuable catch in developing countries while fishing companies pocket the profits, according to University ...

NIH-funded scientists identify potential target for malaria drugs

2013-11-28
NIH-funded scientists identify potential target for malaria drugs Protein is essential throughout malaria-causing parasite's life cycle Researchers have identified the protein in malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites ...

Fast, furious, refined: Smaller black holes can eat plenty

2013-11-28
Fast, furious, refined: Smaller black holes can eat plenty This news release is available in Spanish. Observations of a black hole powering an energetic X-ray source in a galaxy some 22 million light-years away could change our thinking about how some black ...

Ethical debate on face transplantation has evolved over time, reports Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

2013-11-28
Ethical debate on face transplantation has evolved over time, reports Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Once 'morally objectionable,' face transplantation now seen as 'feasible and necessary' procedure Philadelphia, Pa. (November 27, 2013) – Once viewed ...

Lasers deemed highly effective treatment for excessive scars

2013-11-28
Lasers deemed highly effective treatment for excessive scars Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery assembles evidence on laser therapy for scar prevention and treatment Philadelphia, Pa. (November 27, 2013) – Current laser therapy approaches are effective ...

Study finds vulnerability in malaria parasite

2013-11-28
Study finds vulnerability in malaria parasite Highlights possible new approach to treatment NEW YORK, NY (November 27, 2013) —An international team of scientists, including researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), has identified ...

What's the sound of a hundred thousand soccer fans?

2013-11-28
What's the sound of a hundred thousand soccer fans? Brazilian researchers study acoustics of the caxirola, official World Cup instrument SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 27, 2013 – Mention vuvuzela to soccer fans, and they may cringe. The plastic horn rose to prominence ...

Glaciers sizzle as they disappear into warmer water

2013-11-28
Glaciers sizzle as they disappear into warmer water The sounds of bubbles escaping from melting ice make underwater glacial fjords one of the loudest natural marine environments on earth SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 27, 2013 – Scientists have recorded and identified ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

What are they vaping? Study reveals alarming surge in adolescent vaping of THC, CBD, and synthetic cannabinoids

ECMWF - delivering forecasts over 10 times faster and cutting energy usage by 1000

Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work

Turning social fragmentation into action through discovering relatedness

Cheese may really be giving you nightmares, scientists find

Study reveals most common medical emergencies in schools

Breathable yet protective: Next-gen medical textiles with micro/nano networks

Frequency-engineered MXene supercapacitors enable efficient pulse charging in TENG–SC hybrid systems

Developed an AI-based classification system for facial pigmented lesions

Achieving 20% efficiency in halogen-free organic solar cells via isomeric additive-mediated sequential processing

New book Terraglossia reclaims language, Country and culture

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

[Press-News.org] Pills of the future: Nanoparticles