The human immune system is extremely powerful though most forms of cancer have developed ways to evade it. Researchers at University of Texas at Arlington and Southwestern Medical Center Used PLGA (Cat# AP082) from PolySciTech Division of Akina, Inc (www.polyscitech.com) to create particles with HER2 specific coating. These particles localized in tumor areas and delivered cisplatin. This research holds promise to improve therapy against cancer in the future. Read more: Yaman, Serkan, Harish Ramachandramoorthy, Priyanka Iyer, Uday Chintapula, Tam Nguyen, Manoj Sabnani, Tanviben Kotadia et al. "Targeted chemotherapy via HER2-based chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) engineered T-cell membrane coated polymeric nanoparticles." Bioactive Materials 34 (2024): 422-435. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452199X23004309

“Highlights: Membrane coating aids camouflage Nanoparticle delivery. CAR-T based receptor increases targeting towards Non-small cell lung cancer. Paves new strategy for Syngenic cancer therapeutics. Abstract: Cell membrane-derived nanoparticles (NPs) have recently gained popularity due to their desirable features in drug delivery such as mimicking properties of native cells, impeding systemic clearance, and altering foreign body responses. Besides NP technology, adoptive immunotherapy has emerged due to its promise in cancer specificity and therapeutic efficacy. In this research, we developed a biomimetic drug carrier based on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) transduced T-cell membranes. For that purpose, anti-HER2 CAR-T cells were engineered via lentiviral transduction of anti-HER2 CAR coding lentiviral plasmids. Anti-HER2 CAR-T cells were characterized by their specific activities against the HER2 antigen and used for cell membrane extraction. Anti-cancer drug Cisplatin-loaded poly (D, l-lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) NPs were coated with anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-specific CAR engineered T-cell membranes. Anti-HER2 CAR-T-cell membrane-coated PLGA NPs (CAR-T-MNPs) were characterized and confirmed via fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry. Membrane-coated NPs showed a sustained drug release over the course of 21 days in physiological conditions. Cisplatin-loaded CAR-T-MNPs also inhibited the growth of multiple HER2+ cancer cells in vitro. In addition, in vitro uptake studies revealed that CAR-T-MNPs showed an increased uptake by A549 cells. These results were also confirmed via in vivo biodistribution and therapeutic studies using a subcutaneous lung cancer model in nude mice. CAR-T-MNPs localized preferentially at tumor areas compared to those of other studied groups and consisted of a significant reduction in tumor growth in tumor-bearing mice. In Conclusion, the new CAR modified cell membrane-coated NP drug-delivery platform has demonstrated its efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, CAR engineered membrane-coated NP system could be a promising cell-mimicking drug carrier that could improve therapeutic outcomes of lung cancer treatments.”

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BPR (Biotech Pharma Research) Conference (April 10, 2024, KPTC West Lafayette, IN) is a​ free ​scientific/​networking conference hosted by Akina (http://bprconference.com/​).

One way to deliver drugs to the desired location in a body is to attach them via small particles, or backpacks, to macrophage cells which are travelling to that section. Notably, this can be utilized to treat cancer which is highly difficult to get drug molecules into the right location. Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder, University of Florida used PLGA-Rhodamine (AV011) from PolySciTech division of Akina, Inc. (www.polyscitech.com) as part of creating magnetic backpacks to specifically bind to cellular components. This research holds promise to provide for an additional cancer treatment option. Read more: Day, Nicole B., Christopher R. Orear, Ambar C. Velazquez-Albino, Hayden J. Good, Andrii Melnyk, Carlos M. Rinaldi-Ramos, and C. Wyatt Shields IV. "Magnetic Cellular Backpacks for Spatial Targeting, Imaging, and Immunotherapy." ACS Applied Bio Materials (2023). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsabm.3c00720

“Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapies are growing in popularity due to their ability to interact with diseased tissues in a specific manner. Disc-shaped particles, or “backpacks”, that bind to cellular surfaces show promise for augmenting the therapeutic potential of adoptively transferred cells by resisting phagocytosis and locally releasing drugs to maintain cellular activity over time. However, many ACTs suffer from limited tumor infiltration and retention and lack a method for real-time spatial analysis. Therefore, we have designed biodegradable backpacks loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) to improve upon current ACT strategies by (i) controlling the localization of cell-backpack complexes using gradient magnetic fields and (ii) enabling magnetic particle imaging (MPI) to track complexes after injection. We show that magnetic backpacks bound to macrophages and loaded with a proinflammatory drug, resiquimod, maintain anticancer phenotypes of carrier macrophages for 5 days and create cytokine “factories” that continuously release IL-12. Furthermore, we establish that forces generated by gradient magnet fields are sufficient to displace cell-backpack complexes in physiological settings. Finally, we demonstrate that MPI can be used to visualize cell-backpack complexes in mouse tumors, enabling a potential strategy to track the biodistribution of ACTs in real time. KEYWORDS: adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy cancer drug delivery macrophage microparticle magnetic particle imaging”

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The release rate of drug from any PLGA-based system is controlled by several parameters including the properties of the PLGA polymer used for the system. Although this is well known, the correlation between polymer properties and drug release is not well understood. Researchers at University of Texas at Austin and US Food and Drug Administration used customized PLGA from PolySciTech division of Akina, Inc. (www.polyscitech.com) with specified blockiness (lactide-glycolide block length) to investigate the effect of PLGA properties on drug release. This research lays the foundation for correlating PLGA properties to product performance. Read more: Costello, Mark A., Joseph Liu, Louise Kuehster, Yan Wang, Bin Qin, Xiaoming Xu, Qi Li, William C. Smith, Nathaniel A. Lynd, and Feng Zhang. "Role of PLGA Variability in Controlled Drug Release from Dexamethasone Intravitreal Implants." Molecular Pharmaceutics (2023). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.3c00742

“Long-acting injectable formulations based on poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) have been commercialized for over 30 years in at least 20 FDA-approved products. These formulations offer several advantages, including reduced dosing frequency, improved patient compliance, and maintenance of therapeutic levels of drug. Despite extensive studies, the inherent complexity of the PLGA copolymer still poses significant challenges associated with the development of generic formulations having drug release profiles equivalent to those of the reference listed drugs. In addition, small changes to PLGA physicochemical properties or the drug product manufacturing process can have a major impact on the drug release profile of these long-acting formulations. This work seeks to better understand how variability in the physicochemical properties of similar PLGAs affects drug release from PLGA solid implants using Ozurdex (dexamethasone intravitreal implant) as the model system. Four 50:50, acid-terminated PLGAs of similar molecular weights were used to prepare four dexamethasone intravitreal implants structurally equivalent to Ozurdex. The PLGAs were extensively characterized by using a variety of analytical techniques prior to implant manufacture using a continuous, hot-melt extrusion process. In vitro release testing of the four structurally equivalent implants was performed in both normal saline and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), yielding drastically different results between the two methods. In normal saline, no differences in the release profiles were observed. In PBS, the drug release profiles were sensitive to small changes in the residual monomer content, carboxylic acid end group content, and blockiness of the polymers. This finding further underscores the need for a physiologically relevant in vitro release testing method as part of a robust quality control strategy for PLGA-based solid implant formulations. KEYWORDS: PLGA, implant, Ozurdex, hot-melt extrusion, blockiness, acid number”