Nano materials offer enormous potential and clinical significance in the fields of oncology, endocrinology and cardiology as per a recent research. A team of scientists from UCLA and Northwestern University has developed a localized and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system, a discovery that could provide newer and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases. Using this system, drugs could be released slowly and under control for weeks or longer. When drugs are administered orally or through the bloodstream, they travel throughout the system and dissipate from the body much more quickly. Using a more localized and controlled approach could limit side effects, particularly with chemotherapy drugs.
The team of researchers used Nanoscale polymer films, about 4 nanometers per layer, to build a sort of matrix/platform to hold and slowly release an anti-inflammatory drug. The films are orders of magnitude thinner than conventional drug deliver coatings. They coated tiny chips with layers of the Nano scale polymer films, which are inert and helped provide an invisibility cloak for the chips, hiding them from the body's natural defenses. Then Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, was added between the layers. The chips were implanted in mice, and researchers found that the Dexamethasone-coated films suppressed the expression of cytokines, proteins released by the cells of the immune system to initiate a response to a foreign invader. Mice without implants and those with uncoated implants were studied to compare immune response. The uncoated implants generated an inflammatory response from the surrounding tissue, which ultimately would have led to the body's rejection of the implant and the breakdown of its functionality. However, tissue from the mice without implants and the mice with the nano-cloaked implants were virtually identical, proving that the film-coated implants were effectively shielded from the body's defense system.
The nano material technology serves as a non-invasive and biocompatible platform for the delivery of a broad range of therapeutics. The technology may also prove to be an effective approach for delivering multiple drugs; controlling the sequence of multi-drug delivery strategies and enhancing the life spans of commonly implanted devices such as cardiac stents, pacemakers and continuous glucose monitors. Many cancer drugs and chemotherapies are delivered systemically through the blood stream. The drugs attack cancer cells, but also other fast growing cells causing side effects such as anemia, nausea and hair loss. If the chemotherapy could be delivered by implant directly to the tumor site, such side effects would be limited. Chemotherapy drugs could potentially be placed in high concentration between the polymer films and an implant placed at the tumor site. The drugs would be released slowly, over time, delivering more of the toxic chemicals directly to the cancer cells.