Nanoparticle drug delivery innovation could enhance drug development

With advantages such as utilising bio-compatible materials, the biomolecule-based drug delivery system enables potentially safer drug development, according to the researchers.

Researchers in Australia have created an innovative drug delivery system that utilises a metal–biomolecule network (MBN) comprising of non-toxic metal ions together with phosphonate biomolecules, eg, DNA. As the MBN nanoparticles do not require complicated drug ‘carriers’ and the materials are bio-compatible, the system has potential to boost successful drug development, according to first author Dr Wanjun Xu.

Phosphonate-containing biomolecules “including plant phytate, DNA, and proteins”, were used to assemble MBN nanoparticles, Xu et al. wrote.

The properties of the MBNs, such as “size, cargo, potential targeting…. can be engineered by selecting different biomolecules, metal ions and assembly conditions… [providing] a modular approach to construct multifunctional nanoparticles with diverse compositions,” stated Professor Frank Caruso, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia.

These “functional [and chemically and metabolically stable] metal−organic networks…can easily assemble biomolecule drugs for biomedical applications such as anti-cancer or anti-viral therapies, gene delivery, immunotherapy, biosensing, bioimaging or drug delivery,” Dr Zhixing Lin explained.

Optimising success of drug carrier systems with nanoparticles

“At present, the challenges of drug development and approval mean that only about one out of 10,000 drug compounds, on average, reaches market approval, with many others failing due to safety issues. Any additional, non-functional components in carriers can potentially increase toxicity,” Dr Xu shared.

For example, the team from the University of Melbourne highlighted that ‘free’ biomolecular cargoes often cannot reach their target cells to accomplish the necessary biological function. However, through their research, Xu et al. reduced surplus components to eventually produce a simpler material system that did not compromise performance.

Looking ahead, this innovative research could support the team to develop “a library of bioactive nanoparticles”, Professor Caruso anticipated.

The paper was published in Science Advances.

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