An enhanced drug delivery system for brain cancer treatment which will be tested by human cell-based 3D in vitro microfluidic system

Cancer treatment by current clinical methods has many side effects, which result from the non-specificity of these methods. Moreover, treatment of some cancers, such as brain tumors, is extremely difficult because the brain barriers (blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood tumor barrier (BTB)) prevents more than 98% of drugs from entering the brain. The use of stimuli-responsive nanomaterials for cancer therapy is more efficient than conventional ones due to access to targeting tissues, deep molecular targets, lower side effects, and controlled drug release. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are widely used nanocarrier for drug delivery due to their unique physicochemical properties. However, the lack of consideration of the economic efficiency of MSNs synthesis, their surface modification methods, and the lack of use of physiologically relevant systems to test the efficacy and safety of MSNs, have caused that an effective and definitive cancer treatment method by MSNs has not been provided so far. In this project we aim to solve these problems and make the use of MSNs for therapeutic approaches realistic. The goal of this project is to develop a biosource-derived stimuli-responsive MSN for combined PDT/ chemotherapy of brain tumors to be evaluated in a physiologically relevant human cell-based 3D in vitro brain tumor microfluidic system. This project will be the first to investigate a combination therapeutic agent based on natural products modified with advanced plasma technology and evaluated in a novel human cell-based 3D microfluidic in vitro system that includes the BBB. Outcomes of this project will enhance the existing knowledge and technologies for MSNs’ synthesis, modification, and their cancer treatment performance evaluation, which will yield high-impact journal publications, as well as potential commercial product in the long term.


Funding Agency

  • MarieCurieActions
Proje Duration
  • Start day: 1 July 2023
  • End day: 31 June 2025
Team
  • PI: Sahar Porrang, Sabanci University, Turkiye
  • Advisor: Nur Mustafaoglu, Sabanci University, Turkiye
Publications
Presentations
  • S. Porang, N. Mustafaoglu, Extraction of highly pure, economically viable, and scalable biogenic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSNs) from biosources: ideal nanocarriers for drug delivery applications , 5th Internatinal Eurasia Biochemical Approaches and Technologies Congress, 2-5 November 2023, Antalya, Türkiye
Outreach
News