Neutrophils

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• Cancer treatment
• Nanoparticles in medicine

2024: Russian scientists propose using neutrophils to deliver drug nanoparticles to cancer tumors

Russian scientists have proposed using a special type of white blood cell - neutrophils - as carriers of drug nanoparticles to combat malignant tumors. The study opens up new perspectives in the development of effective treatments for cancer. MISIS announced this on December 4, 2024.

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MISIS

Nanomedicine is an emerging field that uses various nanoparticles for diagnosis and therapy. They help deliver drugs directly to the tumor, but reaching the required concentration is a difficult task. One solution to the delivery problem is the use of neutrophils.

There are two approaches: the first is to load the cells with nanoparticles outside the body and then return them back; the second is to inject the nanoparticles directly into the body so that the cells themselves capture them and deliver them to the tumor. Neutrophils are considered promising "couriers." This type of white blood cell, which makes up most of the immune system, is able to penetrate through the vessels and move around the body over long distances in response to inflammation or a tumor, "said Maxim Abakumov, candidate of chemical sciences, head of the Biomedical Nanomaterials Laboratory at NUST MISIS.

But there are also difficulties: some coatings on nanoparticles can interfere with the work of neutrophils. The material, size and shape strongly affect the interaction with white blood cells - some types of particles can damage them. In addition, blood cells do not live long, so they need to be quickly collected, placed on them medicine and returned to the patient's body.

Three types of nanoparticles are most promising: liposomes, magnetite, biodegradable copolymers of lactic and glycolic acid (PLGA). Low-toxicity liposomes degrade naturally and can tolerate large amounts of the drug. Copolymers allow you to control the rate of drug release, and magnetite nanoparticles are useful not only for drug delivery, but also for imaging tumors, "said Anastasia Garanina, an engineer of the 1st category of the Biomedical Nanomaterials Laboratory at NUST MISIS.

Researchers of the University of MISIS, RNIMU named after N.I. Pirogov, National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology named after V.P. Serbsky and RCTU named after D.I. Mendeleev studied the impact of various types of nanoparticles on neutrophils both in laboratory conditions and in a living organism. They found out that magnetite nanoparticles leave blood vessels and can be captured by neutrophils for transfer to the tumor. Copolymer nanoparticles accumulate near the walls of blood vessels and are also collected by blood cells. But liposomes are not captured by neutrophils, but the white blood cells themselves contribute to the delivery of spheres to the tumor using the mechanisms of micro- and macro-leaks - violations of the integrity of the vascular walls of neoplasms, which allows drugs to get directly into the tissue. Details of the study are described in the scientific journal Pharmaceuticals (Q1).

Each type of nanoparticle behaves differently in blood vessels. Because of this, the speed and effectiveness of drug delivery to tumors along with neutrophils is different. In the future, scientists plan to determine the key parameters of nanoparticles that determine by what mechanism the interaction with neutrophils will take place.