Nano-generators deliver drugs precisely for effective tumor therapy

With the development of social science and technology and the aging of the population, cancer has become a high-risk disease that seriously threatens human health. Chemotherapy is the most widely used treatment for cancer. Chemotherapy is simply the use of chemicals that treat diseases but do not cause death. It carries the drug through the blood vessels to the whole body and affects all cells in the body. This therapy is sometimes referred to as "cytotoxic therapy", because the drugs used are both harmful and even toxic, and cells in the body, whether or not they are malignant, are destroyed.

Although chemotherapy may cause unpleasant side effects, most people can still live a normal life during treatment. But it also has well-known problems, including serious side effects and lower therapeutic effects. Therefore, drug delivery systems for cancer treatment have become a hot topic of research.

Recently, Li Zhou, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Nano-Energy and Systems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed the development of a magnetic-reciprocal structure implantable friction nano-generator, and cooperated with Wei Wei and others, researchers of the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to control it. The drug-loaded red blood cells are released at a fixed site of the tumor site, achieving an effective tumor treatment effect.

Erythrocytes have a body cycle time of up to 120 days, good stability and flexibility, no immunogenicity of explants, and are a good tumor drug delivery vehicle. At the same time, drug-loaded red blood cells can produce responsive release to high-voltage electric field stimulation. However, the traditional high-voltage power supply device is bulky, has a low safety factor, and the patient cannot operate autonomously. These factors hinder the application of the electric field-controlled drug delivery system in tumor treatment.

This time, the electric field of the nanogenerator designed by the researchers has a precise controlled release effect on the erythrocyte membrane loaded with doxorubicin: when the electric field is applied, the drug release accelerates by 3-4 times of the bottom value; and after the electric field disappears, The amount of drug released quickly returned to the background value, thus achieving a controlled release of the drug. Combining the magnet nano-generator with the interdigitated electrode or the micro-needle electrode, the three-dimensional tumor cells, three-dimensional tumor pellets and solid tumors in the mouse have achieved excellent tumor treatment under the premise of low concentration administration. Especially in the in vivo experiment, the drug delivery and release system combined with the nano-generator and the micro-needle electrode significantly prolonged the survival life of the tumor-bearing mice, and had less toxic side effects on the tumor-bearing mice.

According to the researchers, based on the characteristics of magnetic mutual exclusion nanometer generator miniaturization and high voltage and low current output, the drug controlled release system can be safely used as a wearable or implantable power supply in practical medical scenarios, which is controllable and offer new solutions for drug delivery systems and oncology treatments.

Edited by Suzhou Yacoo Science Co., Ltd.