Logic-gated pro-MMP activation for tumor-specific motility in nanocarriers

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Nanoparticles deliver anti-cancer drugs to tumors. They prevent exposure of the rest of the body to these toxic drugs. Penetrating the tumor is difficult. Understanding the factors that govern the behavior of drug nanocarriers within the tumor could help improve delivery. One strategy to improve delivery has been to try digesting the matrix material surrounding tumors. The enzymes used are referred to as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Unfortunately, MMPs can be toxic to surrounding cells and tissue. The major objective of this research is to create ‘smart’ MMPs whose activity is specific for tumor matrix material only. Outreach and educational efforts are designed to attract students to careers in engineering and improve technological literacy. Pre-college research internships, drug delivery teaching modules for a local middle school, and new course modules in protein engineering and drug delivery are planned.Nanocarriers offer numerous potential benefits in drug delivery. These include their abilities to precisely target drug delivery, to control release, extend circulation time within the body, and offer stimulus-responsive features. Poor penetration caused by the features of the tumor stroma/matrix is cited as a primary challenge to drug delivery effectiveness. This project fuses diverse expertise in synthetic biology/protein engineering and drug delivery/biomaterials to create tumor-actuatable pro-MMPs and uncover mechanisms governing their site-selective unmasking, proteolytic activity, and capacity to enhance nanocarrier transport within tumor-relevant extracellular matrix. Certain MMPs (MMP-9 for example) have elevated concentrations in tumor microenvironments. Synthetic pro-MMPs that are conditionally activated by the elevated MMPs will be designed. The ability of these conditional pro-MMPs to provide MMP-specific mobility enhancements to protein nanostructures will be evaluated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.