Drug delivery nanocarriers reduce side effects caused by chemotherapy

Chemotherapy's side effects can take a massive toll on the body. In an effort to reduce the killing of healthy cells, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have developed a computer model that helps design nanocarriers to guide drugs to specific areas within the body.

The model is able to identify the different surfaces of cells using thermal fluctuation, identifying which cells the nanocarriers can stick to in order to deliver their treatments. Molecules on the nanocarriers' exterior can then only bind to a certain type of cell, reducing the side effects of chemotherapy while trying to target  cancerous cells. While the nanocarriers are capable of holding multiple molecules to bind to more than one kind of biomarker, this makes the carriers less selective.

"These design criteria can be utilized in custom designing nanocarriers for a given patient or patient-cohort, hence showing an important way forward for custom nanocarrier design in the era of personalized medicine," said Ravi Radhakrishnan, led on the research team, a professor in the departments of bioengineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The researchers found different cell types have differing amounts of the excess membrane area. This mechanical parameter controls how well nanocarriers bind to cells. This has highlighted the importance of these mechanical aspects in how efficiently nanocarriers can deliver their payloads.