In a practical application, such nanoparticles could be magnetically directed into stents, the tiny, expandable metal scaffolds inserted into a patients partially blocked vessels to improve blood flow. Many stents eventually fail as cells grow on their surfaces and create new obstructions, so delivering anti-growth genes to stents could help keep blood flowing freely.
The materials composing the nanoparticles are biodegradable, so they break down into simpler, nontoxic chemicals that can be carried away in the blood. Previous researchers had shown that magnetically driven nanoparticles could deliver DNA in cell cultures, but ours is the first delivery system that is biodegradable, and therefore, safer to use in people, said Levy.
This delivery system may be a useful tool for delivering nonviral gene therapy, because it efficiently binds and protects DNA in blood serum and delivers it to cells, added Levy. As a nonviral method, it avoids the unwanted immune system responses that have occurred when viruses are used to deliver gene therapy.
Levy said his team would pursue further studies into the feasibility of using the nanoparticles for gene therapy in blood vessels damaged by vascular disease. He suggested that the nanoparticles might find broader application, such as delivering gene therapy to tumors, or carrying drugs instead of or in addition to genes. Another possibility is that after preloading genetically engineered cells with nanoparticles, researchers could use magnetic forces to direct the cells to a target organ.
Furthermore, researchers might deliver nanoparticles to magnetically responsive, removable stents in sites other than blood vessels, such as airways or parts of the gastrointestinal tract. We could remove the stent
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Contact: John Ascenzi
Ascenzi@email.chop.edu
267-426-6055
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
31-Jul-2007