Design and development of metal-organic frameworks for the delivery of mRNA

设计和开发用于递送 mRNA 的金属有机框架

• 批准号: 2270295
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2270295
• 关键词: Design; development; metal; organic; frameworks

Cancer is a major health problem worldwide being the most common cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. The major goal of new anticancer therapies is to specifically kill tumour cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. A mainchallenge to achieve this aim is the development of better therapies, including novel treatments based on the use of molecules capable of interfere the cell signalling system such as mRNAs. These macromolecules are potentially themost powerful anti-cancer drugs that exist, however, despite of the outstanding potential of these therapies, mRNAs biostability is extremely low and cannot be administered in vivo. The possibility of encapsulating mRNA for their protectionand delivery is one of the greatest challenges in nanomedicine and drug delivery. The aim of this research is to use Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a unique class of porous hybrid solid materials, as a drug delivery system for cancertherapy. MOFs combine vast structural and chemical diversity that make them extremely attractive for the encapsulation (i.e. adsorption in their internal porous surface) and release of therapeutic agents, thanks to the possibility tofunctionalize them with chemical groups, controlling the kinetic release of a therapeutic agent. The success of this project will lead to the realization of innovative MOF-based systems for cancer therapy which can then be used for in vivostudies and have a benefits on the life of numerous patients.

癌症是全球主要的健康问题，是心血管疾病后最常见的死亡原因。新的抗癌疗法的主要目标是在使健康细胞不受伤害的同时特异性杀死肿瘤细胞。实现这一目标的主要挑战是开发更好的疗法，包括基于使用能够干扰细胞信号系统（例如mRNA）的分子的新疗法。这些大分子可能是可能存在的强大抗癌药物，但是，尽管具有这些疗法的杰出潜力，但mRNA的生物稳定性非常低，不能在体内给药。封装mRNA的保护和提供的可能性是纳米医学和药物输送中最大的挑战之一。这项研究的目的是使用金属有机框架（MOF），这是一种独特的多孔混合固体材料，作为癌变的药物输送系统。 MOF结合了巨大的结构和化学多样性，使它们对封装极具吸引力（即在其内部多孔表面吸附）和治疗剂的释放，这要归功于它们与化学基团的可能性使它们具有刺激性，从而控制了治疗剂的动力学释放。该项目的成功将导致实现基于MOF的创新系统用于癌症治疗系统，然后可用于活体内，并对众多患者的生活有好处。