Comment by Lorenzo Rossi ( Russo’s Lab )
The impact of nanotechnology, and particularly nanoparticles, is continuously growing on our lives, together with the interest of the scientific community. Nanoparticles advancements in biomedical applications, lastly their employment in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines formulations, prove their potential as enhanced imaging and drug delivery systems. Nevertheless, multiple issues are yet to be overcome for a more versatile use in clinics. Biodistribution and accumulation are key aspects to be assessed, and investigations in this direction are in prospective precious for the whole society.
Our mate at TeCSBi PhD course Jennifer, together with her colleagues and under the supervision of Dr Paolo Bigini and Dr Luisa De Cola, have been working on porous stimuli-responsive cage-like organo-silica particle, reporting their in-depth physicochemical and biological characterization in a recent work published in a very high impact journal, ACS Nano. This kind of nanoparticles display a peculiar shape that allows the encapsulation of drugs in their core, containing biodegradable disulfide bridges that facilitate the nanoparticle degradation after its internalization inside cells. In vivo studies in mice have shown that these nanoparticles act as a Trojan horse for therapeutics delivery, being able to avoid macrophage phagocytosis and to specifically target liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, involved in important processes ranging from cancer metastasis to immunotherapy.
Congratulations Jennifer, this is a great work on a very hot topic!
If you are interested in this very interdisciplinary paper, you can find out more at https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c00316.
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