Nanostructure Enhanced Targeting (NSET) of Inflammatory Cells
- 技術優勢
- Increasedtargeting specificity and efficacy, resulting in decreased side effects andtoxicityLow productioncosts because high throughput methods are available for rapid assemblyNewdrug delivery method for cardiovascular- and inflammation-driven diseasesDualfunction as a diagnostic and therapeutic
- 詳細技術說明
- Nanoparticlesthat selectively enter dendritic cells without the need for a targeting ligand. #biomedical #therapeutic #diagnostictool#theranostics #imaging #nanotechnology #nanoparticles #reagent#anti-inflammatory #atherosclerosis #MRI
- *Abstract
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Atherosclerosis, a leading cause of heart disease, resultsfrom chronic vascular inflammation that is driven by diverse immune cellpopulations. Nanomaterials may function as powerful platforms for diagnosticimaging and controlled delivery of therapeutics to inflammatory cells inatherosclerosis. However, their efficacyis limited by nonspecific uptake by cells of the mononuclear phagocytes system(MPS). Further, MPS cells located in the liver, spleen, blood, lymph nodes, andkidney rapidly remove the vast majority of intravenously administerednanomaterials from circulation regardless of surface functionalization orconjugation of targeting ligands. Inaddition, the therapeutic potential of nanoparticles has been hindered by thefact that they can be costly to manufacture if a targeting ligand is required. Northwestern scientists have demonstrated thatthey can tailor the morphology of nanostructures to enhance targetingspecificity and have a technology that can address the current issues relatedto therapeutic nanomaterials.
Northwestern researchers have developed a nanoparticle thatovercomes several aforementioned shortcomings of nanomaterials that havepreviously been proposed for therapeutic use. This nanoparticle exhibits specificity of entering dendritic cells(DCs), a subset of immune cells which mediate a variety of human diseases suchas atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is achronic inflammatory disease characterized by the deposition of cholesterol andfat within the walls of blood vessels and can lead to stroke or heart attack.Unstable plaques, which are more likely to rupture, are marked by an increasedabundance of DCs. The nanoparticles developed at Northwestern, whichspecifically enter DCs, can be loaded with an imaging agent (i.e. MRI contrastagent) as a diagnostic tool to identify unstable plaques. The nanoparticles canalso be used as a therapeutic if the particles are loaded with a drug orgenetic material, providing a way to specifically deliver drugs to DCs. Thesenanoparticles have great potential to be used as a diagnostic and therapeutic,and may lead to new treatments for atherosclerosis and other diseases mediatedby DCs.
- 國家/地區
- 美國
