Despite rapid advances in early diagnostics and treatments, cancer remains one of the most deadly diseases killing over 1500 Americans each day. This is the driving force for new cancer therapies and early diagnostics to enhance the clinical outcome of cancer patients. Of significant interest are image-guided drug delivery (IGGD) agents that probe tumor-drug interactions as well as track the delivery and distribution of drugs and imaging agents. IGGD agents would replace chemotherapies whose administration affects the whole body systematically leading to toxicity. Recent nanotechnology advances have led to the development of nanocarriers/nanoimaging agents for tracking site-directed drug delivery and therapeutic response. For example, the most frequently used, studied, and promising drug delivery platforms are lipid-based nanoparticles because they carry large amounts of cancer therapeutics and imaging agents. Furthermore, their composition is similar to natural cell membranes providing them with “stealth-like” character. However, their formulations are susceptible to rearrangement reducing their stability and there is uncontrolled release of drugs limiting their efficacy as well as blood circulation times. Consequently, there is a critical need for alternative approaches to improve their stability, biocompatibility, and cellular uptake. We have prepared a new class of robust and biocompatible multi-functional IGDD agents comprised of hybrid lipid-coated metal nanoparticles to improve site-directed delivery and biodistribution while minimizing toxicity to normal cells. The design strategy used to improve the robustness of the drug delivery agents and evidence for their unique stability will be presented. We expect that these stable IGDD platforms will have a significant impact in cancer therapy and bioimaging applications.

Robust hybrid membrane-coated nanoparticles for targeting tumors

251st National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.