PEG-PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of curcumin-based therapy for ocular cancer treatment

 

Curcumin is a powerful anti-oxidant compound which has properties that prevent tumor metastasis and motion. Although it is present in turmeric, simply eating turmeric (or turmeric powder/prepared foods) will not provide patients with any therapeutically meaningful quantity of curcumin as this compound has very bad water solubility and does not cross over the intestinal tract well. That being said, curcumin provided in a carrier formulation as an injectable or otherwise deliverable compound can aid in cancer treatment. Recently, researchers at University of Rhode Island used PEG-PLGA (AK026) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to produce curcumin-loaded nanoparticles. They embedded these in a thermosensitive gel and tested the system for use against uveal melanoma. This treatment holds promise to improve therapies against cancer. Read more: Xie, Lingxiao, Weizhou Yue, Khaled Ibrahim, and Jie Shen. "A Long-Acting Curcumin Nanoparticle/In Situ Hydrogel Composite for the Treatment of Uveal Melanoma." Pharmaceutics 13, no. 9 (2021): 1335. https://www.mdpi.com/1243808

“Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults with high mortality. In order to improve prognosis and survival of UM patients, it is critical to inhibit tumor progression and metastasis as early as possible after the initial presentation/diagnosis of the disease. Sustained local delivery of antitumor therapeutics in the posterior region can potentially achieve long-term UM inhibition, improve target therapeutic delivery to the posterior segments, as well as reduce injection frequency and hence improved patient compliance. To address the highly unmet medical need in UM therapy, a bioinspired in situ gelling hydrogel system composed of naturally occurring biopolymers collagen and hyaluronic acid was developed in the present research. Curcumin with anti-cancer progression, anti-metastasis effects, and good ocular safety was chosen as the model therapeutic. The developed in situ gelling delivery system gelled at 37 °C within two minutes and demonstrated excellent biocompatibility and slow degradation. The curcumin-loaded nanoparticle/hydrogel composite was able to sustain release payload for up to four weeks. The optimized nanoparticle/hydrogel composite showed effective inhibition of human UM cell proliferation. This novel nanoparticle/in situ hydrogel composite demonstrated a great potential for the treatment of the rare and devastating intraocular cancer. Keywords: in situ hydrogel; nanoparticle/hydrogel composite; sustained delivery; curcumin; uveal melanoma”