The UC-IDIVAL nanomedicine group has been working for several years in the design of nanomaterials and synthetic nano-structures in diagnostic and medical therapy. Recently, in collaboration with the group of Professor Miguel Correa-Duarte of the CINBIO Health Institute of Vigo, this research team has developed and characterized synthetic structures of morphology and size similar to viruses capable of penetrating into target cells and serving as vehicle for the administration of all types of therapies, including genetic therapies – such as DNA or RNA -, proteins, drugs or nanoparticles with therapeutic or diagnostic properties, and even combinations of these components.
The study led by Mónica López Fanarraga demonstrates that these nano-dispensers directed to target cells by ligand, are able to invade the cell/cytoplasm, protecting the encapsulated content inside and releasing it in the cytoplasm after the disassembly of the nanostructure and subsequent degradation of its components in fully biocompatible products. This nano biotechnological engineering design, currently protected by the patent ES 2577056 B2, represents a step further in the application of therapies directed to the intracellular level and will allow in the future to be able to work specifically in the different cellular compartments, not only at the therapeutic level but by controlling and evaluating real-time processes in living cells.
References:
“A synthetic getaway biomimetic strategy for cytoplasm particle invasion” Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Sep 5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201707769
“Carbon nanotubes gathered onto silica particles lose their biomimetic properties with the cytoskeleton becoming biocompatible” International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2017:12, 6317—6328
