Dr. Pradip Paik, Associate Professor of the School of Engineering Sciences and Technology, University of Hyderabad (UoH) and his research group have designed and developed a novel and biocompatible polymer based nano drug carriers with high potential impact of immune therapy and cancer treatment.
These nano carriers exhibited attractive properties of drug encapsulation and controlled release of the same for sustained and prolonged release of NO (Nitric Oxide) in macrophages. This work has been collaborated with Dr. Hridayesh Prakash (Ramanujan Fellow, School of Life Sciences @UoH). Mr. Anil Kumar, Ph.D. Scholar of Paik’s research group and Dr. Vinodh Nadella (Post-Doctoral fellow) are also the co-contributors for this invention.
Brief of this invention: This invention presents for the first time the design of hollow poly-N-acryloyl L-phenyl alanine methyl ester (NAPA-HPN’s) bio degradable nanocapsules of average size ranging from 100-150 nm. These capsules are mono dispersed with high stability (with surface charge) and very much promising for sustained delivery of immunomodulory drugs for their prolonged action. NAPA-HPN capsules are biocompatible and capable of encapsulating very high extent of drug. The NAPA-HPN’s -drug nano formulation, while maintaining cellular homeostasis of macrophages also facilitated prolonged release of low level of NO (nitric oxide) in body fluid and enhanced metabolic activities of Th1 primed macrophages which is one of the important component of host immune response. These results potentially suggest that NAPA-HPN is able to exert adjuvant action on naïve macrophages and skew M1 differentiation without affecting their viability. Thus, NAPA-HPN nanocapsules could be used for the effective management of various infectious or tumor diseases where immune stimulation is paramount. In line with sustained release of NO, similar effect of NAPA-HPN’s was seen in controlled release of iNOS inhibitor, LNMA in time dependent manner in M1 macrophages. Thus the results potentially suggested that NAPA-HPN’s can serve both as a carrier of the drugs as well as an adjuvant for the immune system. Further, these nanocapsules could be used for the effective management of various infectious or tumor diseases where immune-stimulation is paramount for treatment.
This work has been published as advanced article in Nanoscale, 2017, DOI:10.1039/C7NR03724D
-by Dr. Pradip Paik