Unmet Need:Localized delivery of chemotherapeutics to the lung via inhalation provides a straightforward method of directly targeting lung cancers. However, due to the presence of multiple delivery barriers, the effectiveness of the approach has been limited. Here, we disclose an invention of a novel inhalable drug delivery platform capable of overcoming multiple barriers simultaneously following inhalation.
Technology Overview:The newly designed system is composed of human heavy chain ferritin proteins and polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers, which individually provide intrinsic tumor targeting capacity and resistance to muco-adhesion, respectively. The key of the invention is to achieve a dense surface coverage of PEG polymers to ensure efficient mucus penetration, while retaining the cancer cell targeting capacity of ferritin. We have recently accomplished this task by optimizing the PEGylation strategy.
The newly designed PEGylated ferrintin nanocages (FTn) uniquely provide (i) efficient penetration through airway mucus and tumor tissue, (ii) active targeting of, and efficient internalization into, human lung cancer cells and (iii) timely intracellular release of chemotherapeutics.
Stage of Development:In our pilot study, we found that our PEGylated FTn offers a significantly enhanced anti-cancer efficacy (i.e. survival) compared to dose-matched, carrier-free chemotherapeutic drugs in an orthotopic rodent model of highly invasive lung cancer. We also confirm that an array of chemotherapeutics can be efficiently loaded via chemical conjugation or physical encapsulation, which underscores that the novel delivery platform can be widely utilized regardless of specific drugs of interest.
Publications: Huang et al. Hypoxia-tropic Protein Nanocages for Modulation of Tumor and Chemotherapy Associated Hypoxia. ACSNano 2019, 13, 236
