PiezoMagBBB · Noninvasive Modulation of the Blood Brain Barrier using PiezoMagnetic Carbon Nanoneedles
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-21 → 2022-09-20
- EU contribution
- €224,934
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Noninvasive Modulation of the Blood Brain Barrier using PiezoMagnetic Carbon Nanoneedles
There is a significant number of diseases affecting the brain but current treatments for these conditions are limited to therapies which only reduce the symptoms of the disease but don't halt its progression or treat it. This is because it is very hard for medicines to reach the brain due to the presence of a tight barrier known as the blood brain barrier. BBB protects the integrity of the brain by controlling the flux of molecules into the brain parenchyma. This defense barrier however presents a great challenge for getting therapeutic molecules into the brain for the treatment of brain tumours and neurological disorders. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of novel drug delivery systems (DDS) to shuttle drugs across the BBB. The overall aim of PiezoMagBBB was to introduce a new delivery system to cross the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) by developing a smart nano-construct named PiezoMagnetic Carbon Nanoneedles (PMCNNs) which will act as nanotransducers for converting short-wave ultrasound (US) into electric pulses to electrically permeate the BBB. As part of the project, an ultrasound responsive, non-invasive, BBB penetrating nanosystems were developed and their therapeutic efficacy as delivery systems for anticancer therapeutics in 3D Glioblastoma Models was evaluated. Thus, the proposed research provides innovative nanocarriers that can deliver a wide range of therapeutics inside the brain for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders as well as brain cancer.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Abstract The Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) protects the brain from unwanted chemicals and provides a precisely regulated microenvironment to function normally. However, this defense barrier presents a challenge in shuttling therapeutic cargoes into the brain for the treatment of brain tumours and neurodegenerative diseases. To date, the known methods for BBB penetration poses inherent limitations which are often dangerous to the patients including the microbubble mediated ultrasound (US) driven BBB penetration. Herein we propose an innovative strategy to cross the BBB by introducing PiezoMagnetic Carbon Nanoneedles (PMCNNs) and evaluate its potential as an ideal brain drug delivery system (DDS). PMCNNs are made of functionalised carbon nanotubes (ƒ-CNT) decorated with PiezoMagnetic Nanoparticles. Due to the intrinsic piezoelectric property of PMCNNs, they convert short wave ultrasound (US) into electric pulses to electrically permeate the BBB noninvasively which is not possible by any of the known techniques so far. The main objectives of PiezoMagBBB are 1) to electrically permeate an in vitro BBB model with PMCNNs through nano-electroporation under short wave US and 2) to assess the efficacy of PMCNNs to deliver anticancer therapeutics in 3D tumour spheroids and brain tumour organoids. Thus PiezoMagBBB will design novel PMCNNs; assess their cytotoxicity in different brain cells; evaluate their BBB modulation under US and cellular uptake in BBB models; investigate their potential as a DDS for anticancer drugs in “in vivo tumour mimicking” glioblastoma spheroids and brain-tumour organoids. The fellow brings her extensive expertise in smart DDS design to the host lab, which in turn will offer world-class biological and nanotoxicological facilities and nanomedicine expertise. PiezoMagBBB also offers an industry secondment for high-throughput development of brain tumour organoids and a collaboration with an oncology consultant to enable validation of the model.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · BirminghamCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union