Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




Fluorinated Nanoparticles Facilitate Drug Transfer to Cellular Cytosol

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 22 Jan 2019
In a proof-of-principle study, novel "nanoflower" drug transporters were used to successfully deliver model drug analogues to cells growing in culture.

Despite advances in the development of nanoparticle-based drug transport systems, very few nanomaterials can be efficiently delivered to the cellular cytosol. Investigators at Washington State University (Pullman, USA) chose to attack this problem by designing crystalline nanoflower‐like particles, which were synthesized from fluorinated sequence‐defined peptoids.

In peptoids the side chain is connected to the nitrogen of the peptide backbone, instead of the alpha-carbon as in peptides. Notably, peptoids lack the amide hydrogen, which is responsible for many of the secondary structure elements in peptides and proteins. In addition, peptoids are not vulnerable to degradation by protease enzymes.

The inclusion of fluorine into the nanoparticle matrix guaranteed that the crystallinity and fluorination of the particles would enable highly efficient cytosolic delivery with minimal cytotoxicity. Fluorination increased lipophilicity because the bond was more hydrophobic than the carbon–hydrogen bond, and helped in cell membrane penetration and hence bioavailability. An added bonus was the fact that the trifluoromethyl moiety is one of the most lipophilic groups known, which has big advantages for the particles' bioavailability.

The investigators crafted flower-like particles of about 150 nanometers in size from sheets of fluorinated peptoids with added fluorescent probes. They reported in the December 27, 2018, issue of the journal, Small that a cytosol delivery rate of 80% had been achieved for the fluorinated peptoid nanoflowers.

These nanocrystals could be adapted to carry therapeutic genes, such as mRNA and effectively deliver the payload into the cytosol, demonstrating the universal delivery capability of the nanocrystals. The results indicated that self‐assembly of crystalline nanomaterials from fluorinated peptoids paved a new way toward development of nanocargoes with efficient cytosolic gene delivery capability.

"To develop nanotechnology for medical purposes, the first thing to consider is toxicity -- That is the first concern for doctors," said senior author Dr. Yueh Lin, professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Washington State University. "The nanoflowers successfully and rapidly escaped and exhibited minimal cytotoxicity. This paves a new way for us to develop nanocargoes that can efficiently deliver drug molecules into the cell and offers new opportunities for targeted gene therapies."

Washington State University filed a patent application for the new technology and is seeking industrial partners for further development.

Related Links:
Washington State University


New
Gold Member
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Test
hCG Quantitative - R012
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
HIV Test
Anti-HIV (1/2) Rapid Test Kit
New
Silver Member
Total Hemoglobin Monitoring System
GREENCARE Hb
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.