FierceDrugDelivery | By Damian Garde
In the world of drug development, honing an effective molecule is just the
first step. As everyone in the drug delivery business knows, issues like
solubility, permeability and targeting can be vexing challenges to getting
treatment where it needs to go. But what if you could deliver drugs the same
way the body dispatches white blood cells to fight infection, or the same way a
virus proliferates throughout the body?
That's what researchers at U.S. universities are working on, aiming to
develop synthetic cells that could target ailments and release drugs to treat
them. As Popular Mechanics reports, scientists at the University of
Pennsylvania are using plastics to build artificial white blood cells called
leuko-polymersomes, which would be guided by synthetic molecules designed to
mimic the natural receptors white blood cells use to find enflamed tissues and
stick to them.
Once the lab-created cell reaches its target, it of course needs to release
its drug contents, and the researchers have found that UV light could spur the
plastic cell casing to break apart and let loose its payload. While the
technology may be years away from implementation, the scientists behind it believe
that it could lead to a new way to treat tumors and autoimmune disorders.
Over at UCLA, researchers are taking a similar approach with a less
benevolent catalyst: the virus. Viruses are incredibly good at traversing the
body, latching onto cells and implanting their RNA to reproduce, so scientists
are working to synthesize virus-like drug delivery vessels that could work the
same way.
Of course, to your body, all viruses are bad viruses, so the researchers
are trying to find a workaround to the immune system's natural defenses.
They're hoping that, because their synthetic viruses are coated in lab-created
amino acids, the body won't catch on that it's being invaded, and the
artificial infection can deliver drugs or genes to fight disease and disorder.