On May 21, researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Dr. Gan Yong, collaborated with Dr. Shi Xinghua from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology to design and synthesize various drug delivery carriers of different shapes. Through detailed characterization using techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, they have provided a fresh perspective for designing efficient drug delivery carriers to overcome complex barriers in the body. The related research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Drug delivery carriers play a crucial role in improving the safety and efficacy of drugs. However, before reaching the target site, carriers need to overcome multiple obstacles, resulting in less than 0.7% of the drug reaching the target tissue. Recent studies have shown that the physical properties of carriers are key factors determining their interaction with biological barriers.
The research team discovered that needle-shaped nanocarriers (ENP5) demonstrated superior extravasation and intravasation capabilities in high interstitial pressure environments both in vitro and in vivo. Building on this, researchers evaluated the anti-tumor efficacy of different-shaped carriers loaded with the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (Dox) in a mouse model, showing significantly enhanced tumor suppression with Dox@ENP5.
Further experiments by the research team revealed that during extravasation from blood vessels, the high curvature of the carriers helped reduce fluid resistance, accelerating the migration speed of the needle-shaped carriers. During intravasation into tissues, the high curvature promoted the rotational movement of carriers, increasing their jumping frequency in the densely packed extracellular matrix under high pressure, effectively speeding up the penetration of carriers into deep tumor layers and significantly enhancing drug delivery efficiency.
The effect and micro mechanism of curvature-mediated carrier efficient transport. Image source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Related paper information: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319880121
