PLGA-Rhodamine from PolySciTech used in development of inhalable treatment for cystic fibrosis

 

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive disease in which the airway is obstructued by thick mucus. Delivery of medicinal molecules to the lungs is difficult which makes this disease hard to treat. Recently, researchers at University of Naples and University of Campania (Italy), Used PLGA-Rhodamine (AV011) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create traceable, inhalable nanoparticles for fluorescent imaging and tracking of the particles as they enter the airways. This research holds promise to improve treatments against cystic fibrosis. Read more: Comegna, Marika, Gemma Conte, Andrea Falanga, Maria Marzano, Gustavo Cernera, Antonella Di Lullo, Felice Amato et al. "Assisting PNA Transport Through Cystic Fibrosis Human Airway Epithelia With Biodegradable Hybrid Lipid-Polymer Nanoparticles." (2020). https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-111943/latest.pdf

“Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is characterized by an airway obstruction caused by a thick mucus due to a malfunctioning Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein. The sticky mucus restricts drugs in reaching target cells limiting the efficiency of treatments. The development of new approaches to enhance drug delivery to the lungs represents CF treatment's main challenge. In this work, we report the synthesis and characterization of hybrid core-shell nanoparticles (hNPs) comprising a PLGA core and a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) shell engineered for inhalation. We loaded hNPs with a 7-mer peptide nucleic acid (PNA) previously considered for its ability to modulate the posttranscriptional regulation of the CFTR gene. We also investigated the in vitro release kinetics of hNPs and their ecacy in PNA delivery across the human epithelial airway barrier using an ex vivo model based on human primary nasal epithelial cells (HNEC) from CF patients. Confocal analyses and hNPs transport assay demonstrated the ability of hNPs to overcome the mucus barrier and release their PNA cargo within the cytoplasm, where it can perform its biological function.”