Deliver in 60 seconds
A new unique way of administering drugs will help to cope even with cancer
Ksenia Vasilyeva, Vesti
Pharmacists and immunologists have developed a variety of ways to administer drugs and vaccines. However, some of them (for example, the delivery of substances through the skin) are not very effective, and the "good old" injections are not only painful, but can also lead to various complications.
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed another way to inject medicines into the human body.
The patches with microneedles proposed by them are covered with thin films with a medicinal substance. They are easy to use and allow you to refuse painful injections. However, the technology itself is not as simple as it may seem at first glance.
Researchers have been working on creating a gentle and effective way to deliver vaccines and medicines to the body since 2018.
Then chemists managed to create a unique pH-sensitive polymer that, upon contact with the skin, can change the charge and thereby release the substance. Due to this property, the bond of polymer molecules with a vaccine or medication applied to them is not as strong as in standard patches used, for example, hormonal or nicotine.
"One part [of the polymer] contains amino groups that have a positive charge at pH, at which microneedles are created, but when they come into contact with the skin under the influence of its pH, they become neutral. The second part consists of carboxylic acids. At first they have no charge, but when the patch is applied to the skin, they become negatively charged. Therefore, as a result, the total charge changes from positive to negative," explains the head of the study Paula Hammond (Paula Hammond) in the materials of the EurekAlert publication.
Due to the unusual structure and composition, the necessary doses of the drug can be administered in just one minute (existing patches require about 90 minutes to "release" the active substance). Microneedles insert the film together with the drug or vaccine into the surface layers of the skin, and the substance continues to work even after the patch is removed.
Researchers have already tested a promising development. Using a patch with microneedles, the team vaccinated mice with ovalbumin (an egg white widely used for testing in immunology) and compared the results with intramuscular and subcutaneous injections of the same substance.
Scientists found that when ovalbumin was administered using patches with microneedles, the level of antibodies in animals was nine times higher than with standard antigen delivery by intramuscular injection (for example, vaccinated against influenza).
The alternative method of administration also proved to be much more effective than subcutaneous vaccination (as with measles vaccination). The amount of antibodies in the blood of mice after the "patch vaccination" was 160 times higher than after subcutaneous injection.
Chemists conducted similar tests on samples of healthy human skin. Immunization with a patch has also shown high efficacy in human tissues.
But the creation of the patch was not limited to just one thing. The inventors have developed a vaccine against melanoma, which will be administered using their unique invention. Just a few days ago, at the 2019 meeting of the American Chemical Society, researchers from MIT will present a report on this topic.
The mechanism of action of the patch (schematically). The pictures on the right show in red the rate of penetration of the drug into the skin. Illustration of ACS Nano 2018, translated by Vesti.The science.
According to the creators, the vaccine consists of a marker, which is produced in large quantities by melanoma cells, and a substance that increases the overall immune response of the body.
Hammond's group has already tested the new compound on laboratory mice. Scientists have determined the optimal structure of microneedles, which, apparently, can activate cells of the so-called local immunity located directly in the skin.
Experts came to this conclusion after discovering that after the introduction of the vaccine into the skin, these cells migrated into the lymphatic system of animals and activated other immune agents to fight a possible disease.
The next stage will be the testing of new patches for the treatment of existing melanoma in mice, as well as the creation of a commercially available, approved device.
Scientists are confident that the patch will become a reliable tool in the arsenal of oncologists and will help to cope with one of the most dangerous malignant tumors of our time.
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