Modelling the biophysical barriers to drug delivery in cancer

模拟癌症药物输送的生物物理障碍

• 批准号: 2881731
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2881731
• 关键词: Modelling; biophysical; barriers; drug; delivery

Drugs that are injected into cardio-vasculature system the body in order to treat diseases such as cancer, encounter a number of biophysical barriers before ever reaching the diseased area. These include the endothelial barrier - the physical walls of the vasculature system, through which a drug must first pass effectively. Once beyond the vasculature system, the drugs encounter a mechanically rigid, oxygen depleted diseased matrix that can present another physical and chemical barrier to effective drug treatment. These biophysical barriers block and reduce the effectiveness of drug treatment, leading to treatment failure and disease re-occurrence. Yet their presence in the body, drug screening in the laboratory does not take into account these critical physical barriers leading to drugs that are effective in the lab, but fail once in clinic. This project will develop microfluidic, organ-on-chip technology to model the biophysical barriers encountered by chemotherapeutics in cancer treatment. In particular, devices will be designed and engineered to culture human microvasculature in order to unravel vasculature - drug interactions. In addition, these next-generation models will be used to investigate new therapeutics, such as microbubbles, as an alternative, improved route to drug delivery compared to conventional methods in treating cancer.

为了治疗癌症等疾病而注射到体内心血管系统的药物在到达患病区域之前会遇到许多生物物理障碍。其中包括内皮屏障——血管系统的物理壁，药物必须首先有效地通过它。一旦超出脉管系统，药物就会遇到机械刚性、缺氧的患病基质，这可能为有效的药物治疗提供另一个物理和化学屏障。这些生物物理障碍阻碍并降低药物治疗的有效性，导致治疗失败和疾病复发。然而，它们在体内的存在、实验室的药物筛选并没有考虑到这些关键的物理障碍，导致药物在实验室中有效，但一旦进入临床就​​会失效。该项目将开发微流体、器官芯片技术来模拟化疗药物在癌症治疗中遇到的生物物理障碍。特别是，将设计和制造用于培养人体微脉管系统的设备，以揭示脉管系统与药物的相互作用。此外，这些下一代模型将用于研究新的疗法，例如与治疗癌症的传统方法相比，微泡作为替代的、改进的药物输送途径。