Mixed micelles of lipoic acid-chitosan-poly(ethylene glycol) and distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol) for tumor delivery

Many chemotherapeutics suffer from poor aqueous solubility and tissue selectivity. Distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol) (DSPE-PEG) micelles are a promising formulation strategy for the delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs. However, storage and in vivo instability restrict their use. The aim of this study was to prepare mixed micelles, containing a novel polymer, lipoic acid-chitosan-poly(ethylene glycol) (LACPEG), and DSPE-PEG, to overcome these limitations and potentially increase cancer cell internalisation. Drug-loaded micelles were prepared with a model tyrosine kinase inhibitor and characterized for size, surface charge, stability, morphology, drug entrapment efficiency, cell viability (A549 and PC-9 cell lines), in vivo biodistribution, ex vivo tumor accumulation and cellular internalisation. Micelles of size 30-130nm with entrapment efficiencies of 46-81% were prepared. LACPEG/DSPE-PEG mixed micelles showed greater interaction with the drug (condensing to half their size following entrapment), greater stability, and a safer profile in vitro compared to DSPE-PEG micelles. LACPEG/DSPE-PEG and DSPE-PEG micelles had similar entrapment efficiencies and in vivo tumor accumulation levels, but LACPEG/DSPE-PEG micelles showed higher tumor cell internalisation. Collectively, these findings suggest that LACPEG/DSPE-PEG mixed micelles provide a promising platform for tumor delivery of hydrophobic drugs

Funcionalización de nanopartículas con el neuropéptido VIP como estrategia de mejora de su potencial de aplicación en biomedicina

Nanotechnology can address key bottlenecks hindering successful bench to bedside translation of recent research in the development of neuropeptide-based drugs. Studies of the effects of VIP on several biological functions provide a powerful rationale for the assessment of VIP as a novel therapeutic approach for the synthesis of novel nano-systems that could improve the efficacy of the treatment. The fact that VIP is so attractive for therapeutic use by itself leads to the study of nano-applications such as a peptide delivery system which may solve the problem of drug break-down by digestive acids and enzymes before they reach their targets. The half-life of VIP needs to be substantially prolonged in biological fluids to be employed in therapeutics with increased effectiveness, as VIP-based drug design is hampered by the instability of the peptide and has limited bioavailability. In other applications VIP is used as a surface ligand for targeted delivery. In this case, VIP needs to be efficiently attached to the nanoparticle surface

Investigating in vitro and in vivo alpha v beta 6 integrin receptor-targeting liposomal alendronate for combinatory gamma delta T cell immunotherapy

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Counci

Application of clinical and molecular profiling data to improve patient outcomes in psoriatic arthritis.

Achieving a good outcome for a person with Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is made difficult by late diagnosis, heterogenous clinical disease expression and in many cases, failure to adequately suppress inflammatory disease features. Single-centre studies have certainly contributed to our understanding of disease pathogenesis, but to adequately address the major areas of unmet need, multi-partner, collaborative research programmes are now required. HIPPOCRATES is a 5-year, Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) programme which includes 17 European academic centres experienced in PsA research, 5 pharmaceutical industry partners, 3 small-/medium-sized industry partners and 2 patient-representative organizations. In this review, the ambitious programme of work to be undertaken by HIPPOCRATES is outlined and common approaches and challenges are identified. It is expected that, when completed, the results will ultimately allow for changes in the approaches to diagnosing, managing and treating PsA allowing for better short-term and long-term outcomes