MISiS: Patch of local chemotherapy (polymer patch) to prevent recurrence of malignant tumors

The main articles are:

• Chemotherapy
• Polymers in medicine

2024: Polymer Patch Prototype Announcement

On May 2, 2024, researchers at MISIS University announced the development of a prototype polymer patch, which in the future will help prevent recurrence of malignant tumors, as it is able to dose-release chemotherapy drugs within a year. The patch is implanted at the site of removal of the primary tumor, so that drugs immediately enter the site of accumulation of residual tumor cells. After 2-3 years, the biopolymers that make up the patch are safely dissolved in the body. The gradual release of drugs over several months allows to increase the effectiveness of postoperative chemotherapy, as well as reduce the side effects of treatment.

source = MISiS NICS

Short-term exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs with intravenous administration has been reported to be often ineffective, as only up to 15% of malignant cells can begin to divide at any point in time. At the same time, increasing the dose of the drug poses a serious threat to the body due to toxicity. The most effective effect has long-term exposure to medicinal substances in moderate concentrations. To solve this problem, NUST MISIS researchers developed special patches for the gradual release of drugs and tested them in vitro on tumor cells. The substrate consists of a human-friendly synthetic polymer of polycaprolactone (PCL), which provides structural integrity and stable, directed release of the antitumor preparation, and a thin multilayer coating with a thickness of about 200 nm containing the preparation itself - doxorubicin. The layers are applied to a substrate from aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions, allowing scientists to control the amount of the drug. The platform coating consists of 30 alternating "empty" and medicinal layers. According to the results of the study, the patches demonstrated prolonged (more than 6 months) and uniform release of the drug product. The results are described in more detail in the scientific journal ACS Applied Bio Materials (Q1).

source = MISiS NICS

The drug coating is thin and fragile, you cannot implant it into the body with ease, a platform is required. We chose polycaprolactone as the substrate material because of its harmlessness, elasticity and slow decay. These qualities allowed the integrity of the patch to be maintained when the drug was released for a year. Since the patch dissolves, in the future this ability will help patients avoid repeated extraction surgery, thereby reducing the risk of possible complications. told Dr. Elizaveta Kudan, Head of the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, NUST MISIS

In perspective, the local chemotherapy platform can be used in the early stages of cancer with a high probability of recurrence, for example, in ovarian cancer or brain tumor. Implantation of such a patch directly into the tumor area will reduce the dose of drugs and minimize general toxicity to healthy tissues, thereby increasing the success of treatment.

source = MISiS NICS

The effectiveness of chemotherapy is limited by many factors, the most significant of which are the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs and their drug resistance. Intravenous administration often leads to an explosive release of the drug in the blood and a further decrease in concentration to a level that has no therapeutic effect. Such fluctuations can cause instability of the therapeutic effect and reduce the overall effectiveness of chemotherapy, since not all tumor cells are simultaneously susceptible to treatment. The polymer platform can release drugs for up to a year and dissolve completely in the body within two to three years. shared co-author of the development Amina Voznyuk, iPhD graduate student of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering NUST MISIS

In the future, scientists plan to test the patch in vivo to assess its effectiveness and safety, study the scalability of the production of the platform for clinical use and optimize the design for better drug release.

The Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnologies of the FMBA of Russia and the Medical Genetic Scientific Center named after Academician N.P. Bochkov have already shown interest in the study. The research is carried out within the framework of the strategic project NUST MISIS "Biomedical Materials and Bioengineering" under the program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia "Priority-2030."