PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of brain-cancer targeting liposome therapy

A common problem which afflicts all brain-treatment methodologies is the presence of the blood-brain-barrier, a system which prevents most medicines in the bloodstream from crossing over into the brain cavity. Overcoming this barrier is not a trivial task and necessary for treating ailments ranging from glioblastoma to Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, researchers from North Dakota State University utilized PLGA (PolyVivo cat# AP022) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) combined with chitosan to develop an in-vitro brain tumor model to test uptake by cancer cells of 5-FU loaded liposomes. This research holds promise to improve therapeutic options for brain cancer. Read more: Lakkadwala, Sushant, and Jagdish Singh. "Dual Functionalized 5-Fluorouracil Liposomes as Highly Efficient Nanomedicine for Glioblastoma Treatment as Assessed in an In Vitro Brain Tumor Model." Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2018). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022354918304556

“Abstract: Drug delivery to the brain has been a major challenge due to the presence of the blood brain barrier (BBB), which limits the uptake of most chemotherapeutics into brain. We developed a dual-functionalized liposomal delivery system, conjugating cell penetrating peptide penetratin to transferrin-liposomes (Tf-Pen-conjugated liposomes) to enhance the transport of an anticancer chemotherapeutic drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), across the BBB into the tumor cells. The in vitro cellular uptake study showed that the dual-functionalized liposomes are capable of higher cellular uptake in glioblastoma (U87) and brain endothelial (bEnd.3) cells monolayer. In addition, dual-functionalized liposomes demonstrated significantly higher apoptosis in U87 cells. The liposomal nanoparticles showed excellent blood compatibility and in vitro cell viability, as studied by hemolysis and MTT assay, respectively. The 5-FU loaded dual-functionalized liposomes demonstrated higher transport across the brain endothelial barrier and delivered 5-FU to tumor cells inside PLGA-chitosan scaffold (an in vitro brain tumor model), resulting in significant tumor regression. Keywords: blood brain barrier liposomes nanomedicine biocompatibility cancer chemotherapy targeted drug delivery”


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