IISc develops system to deliver drugs to individual cells

A system to package and deliver drugs to each cell of human body, depending on its needs, has been developed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

The “Nanocapsules”, made from a special type of material, can now deliver drugs right inside cancer-affected cells in the body, says a Gubbi Labs release.

“Drug delivery systems” are mechanisms that can be programmed to release drug molecules at targeted cells in the body, using physiological cues present in the body itself.

The major hurdle has been that as these local cues are not consistent between cells; one needs systems that respond to multiple such cues.

Ashok M Raichur, Dipshikha Chakravortty and their team of scientists at IISc Bangalore, have demonstrated one of the very few systems that can respond to multiple cues.

There are three ideal characteristics that a drug delivery system should have — the entire drug molecule should be encapsulated, which would prevent its premature release or degradation; it should carry the drug safely — and specifically — to the target site; and at the target site, it should release the drug molecules using the local physiological cues available.

Hollow nanocapsules were fabricated from special materials called biopolymers, which are materials that do not react with body tissues.

These nanocapsules contain components that can respond to local cues integrated in the walls. To avoid premature release of the drug, the walls are cross-linked; this sort of architecture gives scope to load large amounts of drugs into the capsule.

The wall structure also makes it possible for a small amount of local cues, like enzymes, to trigger the release of a large number of drug molecules.

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