Targeted delivery of chemotherapy may help overcome the terrible side effects that injecting poison into the whole body can have. A team of researchers headed by scientists at University of Buffalo have developed new nanoscale liposomes, made out of lipids, that can ferry chemo without spilling a drop until a near-infrared laser illuminates them.
The nanoscale vesicles are made of porphyrin-phospholipid (PoP) liposomes, but the mechanism of them popping open to release the cargo is yet to be explained. Nevertheless, the team tested the nanoballoons in laboratory mice and found that they open up inside the animals exactly where the laser was directed, and, once it’s turned off, the liposomes close and sequester a good amount of surrounding molecules that may be related to the progression of the cancer.
From the study abstract in Nature Communications:
Light-induced membrane permeabilization is enabled with liposomal inclusion of 10 molar % porphyrin–phospholipid and occurs in the absence of bulk or nanoscale heating. Liposomes reseal following laser exposure and permeability is modulated by varying porphyrin–phospholipid doping, irradiation intensity or irradiation duration. Porphyrin–phospholipid liposomes demonstrate spatial control of release of entrapped gentamicin and temporal control of release of entrapped fluorophores following intratumoral injection. Following systemic administration, laser irradiation enhances deposition of actively loaded doxorubicin in mouse xenografts, enabling an effective single-treatment antitumour therapy.
Study in Nature Communications: Porphyrin–phospholipid liposomes permeabilized by near-infrared light…
Press release: Fighting cancer with lasers and nanoballoons that pop…