Canadian Scientists Succeed in Producing Nanoscale Drug Capsules from DNA Threads. Canadian scientists succeeded in producing nanoscale (one billionth of a meter) drug capsules from DNA threads, having achieved an important success in delivering drugs only to diseased cells without harming healthy cells.
prof. The success of the McGill University scientific team led by Hanadi Sleiman is considered an important step in the use of biological nanostructures in drug delivery to diseased cells.
In their study published on the website of the scientific journal Nature Chemistry, the researchers drew attention to the fact that their invention also offers new possibilities in the design of DNA-based nanomaterials.
Sleiman and his team have previously provided the first proof of the idea that drug delivery is possible in this way, showing that gold nanoparticles can be filled and released from the DNA nanotubes. The new research is significant as it is the first study using DNA nanostructures to show that small molecules much smaller than gold nanoparticles can also be used ingeniously in drug delivery.
The most important advantage of DNA-based nanostructures over other synthetic materials that are frequently used in drug delivery within the body is that they can be produced with an unfailing precision, as well as being able to disappear spontaneously in the body, and that their size, shape and properties can be easily adjusted.
HOW WERE BIOLOGICAL NANOSTRUCTURES CREATED?
Scientists who first produced DNA cubes, which they called cages, with the help of short DNA strands made up of the material that makes up DNA, then made changes on these DNA cubes that allow drug delivery with the help of lipid-like molecules.
Similar to sticky patches that can come together, lipids can cling to each other within the DNA cube in what scientists call a "handshake."
During their experiments, the researchers discovered that if the sticky patches were placed on one of the outer faces of the DNA cubes, the two cubes could cling to each other.
Scientists stated that it is possible for the DNA cages they created to leave the drug molecules they carry, if there is a distinct nucleic acid sequence in the environment.
Thomas Edwardson, a PhD student on the writing team of the research, pointed out that many diseased cells, including cancer cells, activate certain genes excessively, and pointed out that in a future application, a DNA cube loaded with a drug can be sent to the diseased cell environment, which will trigger the release of the drug it carries. .
Collaborating with scientists from the Lady Davis Medical Research Institute working at the Full-fledged Jewish Hospital in Montreal, Canada, Sleiman and his team are still continuing their cell and animal experiments on the usability of this drug delivery method in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and prostate cancer.
Source : ntvmsnbc
Günceleme: 03/09/2013 23:16
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