Domestic researchers have developed very small nanoparticles that move autonomously in the body and deliver therapeutic agents where needed, successfully treating bladder cancer.
Professor Han Se-kwang of Pohang University of Science and Technology, along with researcher Choi Hyun-sik and the team, announced on the 18th that they developed a smart self-propelled nanomotor that gains propulsion from the bladder's internal environment to accurately deliver therapeutic agents where needed, in collaboration with Professor Jung Seung-hwan of Seoul National University Hospital, Director General Ko Kyu-young of the Basic Science Institute (IBS) Vascular Research Center, and Special Chair Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), as well as the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Spain. The research results were published online in the international journal Nature Communications in November.
Bladder cancer is known to have a high recurrence rate among cancers. However, even when drugs are directly injected into the bladder to treat bladder cancer, repeated urination and the mucosal layer of the bladder wall limit the therapeutic effect as they hinder drug absorption.
The research team developed a drug delivery system that combines an enzyme that decomposes urea, abundant in the bladder, to the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles gain propulsion from the gas released when the enzyme decomposes urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide within the bladder. This allows the very small nanomotors carrying drugs to rapidly reach the bladder wall and effectively deliver the medication.
Inside the nanomotors, genetic stimulants involved in innate immunity were loaded. When the nanomotor reached the bladder wall, it promoted an immune response that attacks cancer cells. As a result, the proliferation of bladder cancer cells was inhibited by 94.2%, and the immune cells that attack cancer cells were produced 11 times more than with existing treatments.
Furthermore, compared to the immune therapies currently used for bladder cancer patients in clinical settings, the nanomotor loaded with genetic stimulants demonstrated superior therapeutic effects. It was also confirmed that administering it together with PD-1 inhibitors, which help immune cells recognize and eliminate cancer cells, maximizes the treatment effect for bladder cancer.
Professor Han Se-kwang noted, “By utilizing the nanomotor technology developed this time, drugs can be delivered quickly and accurately to the bladder wall, significantly increasing the success rate of immunotherapy,” adding that “this technology can be applied not only to bladder cancer but also to other intractable diseases.”
Reference materials
Nature Communications (2024), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54293-z