Nanoparticle Formation and Biodistribution for Optimizing Therapy

描述(由申请人提供)：在过去的十年中，癌症化疗取得了重大进展，但靶向特定和有效的药物输送机制在癌症治疗中仍然是一个未得到满足的需求。这一应用代表了化学和医学专业知识的独特结合，将使新的药物输送方法的开发和测试成为可能。该化学利用二氧化碳作为溶剂来制备纳米颗粒，其尺寸、形状和环境可以很好地控制，用于开发新的药物和用于成像的分子传感器。纳米粒子将由小分子(药物)组成，如果需要，还将包括一种聚合物涂层，用于控制释放和释放。这些纳米尺寸的药物将允许靶向输送到例如癌细胞，从而允许使用较低剂量的药物，因此也将减少不想要的副作用和对健康细胞的损害。其具体目标是：1.开发超临界抗溶剂过程，以形成尺寸和形貌可控的包覆纳米颗粒。2.在超临界抗溶剂中原位包裹选定的纳米粒子。3.在动物模型中评估选定的纳米粒子Lav总结：超临界抗溶剂合成提供了一种方法来创建具有广泛内容、大小和涂层的纳米粒子。通过形成带有定制涂层的含有药物的纳米颗粒，将有可能将药物靶向体内的特定目的地。一个好处可能是一种新的化疗形式，其药物剂量要低得多，对患者的副作用也更低。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Significant advances in cancer chemotherapy have occurred over the last decade, but target-specific and effective drug delivery mechanisms remain an unmet need in the treatment of cancer. This application represents a unique combination of expertise in chemistry and medicine that will enable the development and testing of novel drug delivery approaches. The chemistry utilizes carbon dioxide as a solvent in the preparation of nanoparticles whose size, shape, and surroundings can be well-controlled for use in the development of new Pharmaceuticals and molecular sensors for imaging. The nanoparticles will be comprised of small molecules (drugs) and, when needed, a polymer coating for controlled delivery and release. These nanosized drugs will allow for targeted delivery to, e.g., a cancer cell, allowing for lower doses of drugs to be used and therefore will also reduced unwanted side-effects and damage to healthy cells. The Specific Aims are: 1. Develop a supercritical antisolvent process to form encapsulated nanoparticles of controlled size and morphology. 2. Encapsulate selected nanoparticles in situ in the supercritical antisolvent. 3. Evaluate selected nanoparticles in animal models Lav Summary: Supercritical antisolvent synthesis provides a way to create nanoparticles with a wide variety of contents, sizes and coatings. By forming nanoparticles containing drugs with custom coatings, it will be possible to target drugs to specific destinations in the body. One benefit may be a new form of chemotherapy with much lower dosages of drugs and lower side effects in the patient.