SMART NANOGELS

Stimuli-responsive theranostic nanogels based on hyperbranched polyglycerol

Coordinatore	FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN    more  Organization address address: Kaiserswertherstrasse 16-18 city: BERLIN postcode: 14195 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Sandy Cognome: Leitner Email: send email Telefono: +49 30 83853443 Fax: +49 30 83853448
Nazionalità Coordinatore	Germany [DE]
Totale costo	167˙390 €
EC contributo	167˙390 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
Funding Scheme	MC-IEF
Anno di inizio	2012
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2012-08-01   -   2014-07-31

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN  Organization address address: Kaiserswertherstrasse 16-18 city: BERLIN postcode: 14195 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Sandy Cognome: Leitner Email: send email Telefono: +49 30 83853443 Fax: +49 30 83853448	DE (BERLIN)	coordinator	167˙390.40

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Recent advances in medicine and biotechnology have prompted the need to develop nanoengineered delivery systems that can encapsulate a wide variety of novel therapeutics. Moreover, these delivery systems should be “smart”, such that they can deliver their payload at a well-defined time, place, or after a specific stimulus. The ideal drug delivery system should be biodegradable and biocompatible, should benefit from an active and passive targeting, should target only the desired cells, and should release its cargo (high loading capacity) at the desired intracellular space. In addition, recent trends in nanotechnology have developed the concept of theranostic, i.e., imaging, therapeutic and diagnosis in one. To date, only a few examples of nanocarriers that fulfil all of these criteria have been reported and therefore this research field still remains almost unexplored. In addition, the application of all these concepts to polymeric nanogels constitutes nowadays a challenge, and the achievements of the proposed objective will pave the road for future biological and biomedical applications of these polymeric systems.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Nanotechnology is becoming an indispensable component of many scientific sectors. In medicine, nanotechnology has the capacity to drastically change how we diagnose and treat may diseases, including cancer.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Despite research into targeted therapies, the most common anti-cancer strategies entail surgical resection of the primary tumour followed by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, the extensive side-effects of these approaches present a significant limitation to their efficacy.

The main advantage of nanocarriers is that they can selectively target the cancerous cells and release the cytotoxic drug at the tumour site. In addition, they protect the drug from degradation in the body, thereby reducing the dose required for treatment. The EU-funded SMART NANOGELS (Stimuli-responsive theranostic nanogels based on hyperbranched polyglycerol) project set out to synthesise different nanocarriers for applications in cancer therapy. Their activities concentrated on the production of nanogels prepared from biocompatible polymers, engineered to deliver a particular drug after a specific stimulus.

The anticancer drug paclitaxel - used for the treatment of various carcinomas - was attached to nanocarriers and released by the action of some enzymes or by acidic pH. Nanogels responding to a combination of biological stimuli have also been produced that release the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin. These nanogels successfully inhibited proliferation of lung cancer cells.

Additionally, researchers generated polymeric nanogels that can shrink or swell depending on differences in temperature. Temperature acted as an external stimulus to control the structural shape of nanogels and trigger drug release or improve overall targeting.

Overall, the deliverables of the SMART NANOGELS study should advance the current state-of-the-art in nanomedicine. Further research should pave the road for future biological and biomedical applications of these promising polymeric systems.