Researchers at the University of Texas have come up with a matryoshka doll filled with drugs that might end up to be the missing link that would help the nanoparticles to fulfill their potential.
The nanoparticles in such a nested form is believed to produce a more targeted treatment that can bypass the immune defences which have hindered other nanotechnology therapies. These immune defences act towards the protection of the body from foreign particles entering the blood including such nanoparticles. Such immunological defence are so strong that usually one out of every 100, 000 drug molecules reaches the area where they are targeted. Earlier it was difficult to find the particles such that they would go past the immunological barrier and at the same time would reach the targeted tumour cells.
The new technology, a multistage drug delivery system that it is, contains the nanoparticles one inside the other. As it passes through the different immune levels, it sheds a shell and reveals the next layer of particles which suit the next level of the immune system.
The “mother ship” which confronts the first line of immunological defence is in the form of a mesoporous particle which can withstand enzymic corrosion. The scientists are therefore being able to successfully design the particles so that the particles preferentially fix themselves firmly to the endothetial cells on the vessels surrounding the tumours. A toxin is secreted from the particles that help the particles to penetrate into the tumour cells themselves.
Once at their desired destination, they can be stimulated to produce help, which in turn can be used as a therapy. These particles also have the advantage that they can be used to deliver other therapeutic agents, to achieve high concentrations within the tumour without the need to increase the actual dosage of the drug.
