America
Indian-origin scientist designs tiny 'vehicle' to drive drugs to targets
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By Gokul Bhagabati New Delhi, Sep 21
With the side-effects of
therapy being one of the major stumbling blocks in advancing treatment
for deadly diseases, a team of scientists, including one of Indian
origin, has designed a "nanovehicle" that could drive drugs straight to
their destinations - the diseased tissues - thereby sparing other
healthy organs from any unintended effects.
Made of gold
nanoparticles, the nanovehicle was found to be non-toxic when tested in
cultured human cell lines, study co-author Arnab De of the Chicago-based
AbbVie Bioresearch Centre told IANS in an e-mail interview.
"Drugs
should ideally act only on diseased tissues. However, it is difficult
to deliver drugs only to diseased tissues without affecting other
healthy tissues. The side effects of drugs are often seen on these
healthy tissues," De, a PhD from Columbia University in the City of New
York, explained.
"This is a proof-of-concept study that shows
that it may be possible to selectively navigate a drug to certain
tissues. However, extensive animal studies need to be done to determine
non-specific targeting in animals," noted De, who collaborated for the
research with a team of scientists from the University of Delhi.
The research was conducted at professor Subho Mozumdar's laboratory at the University of Delhi.
Other
co-authors of the study were Tanusri Nandi and Seema Garg, a student in
Mozumdar's lab who played an important role in synthesising the
nanoparticles.
"The beauty of the system is that it could in
principle target drugs specifically to diseased tissues. While we have
shown that we can target the liver, other tissues could potentially be
targeted as well," De pointed out.
"At this point though, it is too early to talk in terms of specific diseases," he said.
To
design this nanovehicle, Mozumdar, an associate professor of chemistry
at the University of Delhi, said the researchers "simultaneously
modified the surface of the nanovehicle with 'drugs' and
'tissue-specific molecules' to target the nanovehicle to the diseased
tissue".
"We have successfully used the nanovehicle to deliver a model drug to the liver," Mozumdar said.
Appearing
in the journal AAPS PharmSciTech, published by the American Association
of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the study revealed that "the nanovehicle
specifically targets the diseased tissue, thereby reducing the side
effects of the drug". Another benefit of this is that the "therapeutic
efficacy of the drug is substantially increased as the entire drug is
delivered to the diseased tissue alone".
Highlighting the
significance of the finding, Omid Farokhzad, professor at Harvard
Medical School, said: "Targeting the drug molecule specifically to the
diseased tissue without affecting the healthy tissues remains a
formidable challenge. Targeted and responsive nanotechnology platforms
such as those developed in this study can in principle achieve that goal
in an elegant manner."
According to the study, "the estimated
cost of synthesising the nanovehicle is only about $1 per mg, a very
cost-effective solution."
And the researchers believe that once
the efficacy and safety of the technology are established in animal
studies and human trials, the technology could be available in clinics
within a decade.
"Mozumdar and I have plans to launch a startup company to advance such goals in the future," De said.
"With opportunities opening up every day in India, I hope our dream will become a reality," De noted.
(Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at [email protected])