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    Home > Active Ingredient News > Antitumor Therapy > The cover of Science Advances is a multi-unit collaboration with Zhejiang University. Zhou Min/Tao Wei uses Spirulina as a drug delivery vehicle for the treatment of colon cancer and colitis

    The cover of Science Advances is a multi-unit collaboration with Zhejiang University. Zhou Min/Tao Wei uses Spirulina as a drug delivery vehicle for the treatment of colon cancer and colitis

    • Last Update: 2021-12-04
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Editor's note The iNature public account is jointly created by a team of doctors from Tsinghua University, Harvard University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions.
    The iNature talent public account is now launched, focusing on talent recruitment, academic progress, and scientific research information.
    If you are interested, you can long press or scan below Follow us on the QR code
    .

    The innovative strategy design of iNature oral administration is particularly promising for the treatment of intestinal diseases
    .

    However, many obstacles such as poor therapeutic effect, low bioavailability and biocompatibility remain to be resolved
    .

    On November 24, 2021, Zhou Min of Zhejiang University and Tao Wei of Harvard Medical School jointly published a research paper entitled "Orally deliverable strategy based on microalgal biomass for intestinal disease treatment" in Science Advances (this paper is also the cover paper of the current issue) , The study reported a multifunctional formula based on the spiral-shaped cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis (SP), which contains curcumin (SP@Curcumin) for the treatment of colon cancer and colitis, two intestinal diseases
    .

    In the radiotherapy of colon cancer, SP@Curcumin can mediate combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy to inhibit tumor progression, and at the same time as a radioprotective agent to remove active oxygen caused by high-dose X-ray radiation in healthy tissues
    .

    SP@Curcumin can also reduce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, thereby exerting an anti-inflammatory effect on colitis
    .

    The oral drug delivery system not only uses the biological properties of the microalgae carrier to improve the bioavailability of the loaded drug, but also shows excellent anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of intestinal diseases
    .

    Oral administration is the first and most commonly used route of administration for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, mainly due to its safety, high patient compliance, convenience and ease of production
    .

    However, oral administration still has many challenges, such as the degradation of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the acidic environment of the stomach, resulting in poor retention and low bioavailability in the intestinal tract
    .

    In order to improve the efficacy of oral administration, various drug carriers have been used in the design of oral administration systems, such as liposomes, dendrimers, micelles, polymer conjugates, polymer nanoparticles, silicon or carbon Materials as well as metal and magnetic nanoparticles
    .

    Generally, the versatility of these candidates is achieved through complex design, synthesis, and construction processes to optimize their physical and chemical properties so that they can be used in drug delivery and therapeutic diagnostic applications
    .

    However, the main concern is still the technical challenges, high manufacturing costs and low efficiency caused by this complex synthesis process
    .

    The feasibility of converting these chemically synthesized and engineered materials into clinical use is severely limited by their low biodegradability, poor stability and potential toxicity in vivo
    .

    Therefore, there is a great need to develop a simple, versatile and biocompatible oral drug delivery strategy
    .

    This article was selected as the cover article of this issue (picture from Science Advances) Microalgae is a rich, natural, and renewable biological resource, which has recently attracted widespread attention in biomedical applications
    .

    Microalgae can be cultivated in large quantities, many of which have been commercialized as nutritional and food supplements, proving their practicality and high biological safety as oral pharmaceutical preparations
    .

    In addition, many studies have demonstrated the powerful potential of microalgae for targeted drug delivery in vitro and in vivo because they can effectively load drug molecules through their active surfaces
    .

    Given this paradigm, the researchers suggested using the spiral-shaped cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis as a possible drug carrier for oral drug delivery
    .

     The spiral structure of SP not only makes it easier to be trapped by intestinal villi, but also adheres to the intestinal wall, thereby prolonging the residence time of the drug in the intestine
    .

    In addition, the intrinsic fluorescent chlorophyll produced by SP allows non-invasive fluorescence imaging without the need for chemical modification, making multifunctional SP particularly suitable for therapeutic and diagnostic applications
    .

    In this sense, the use of microalgal biomass-based drug delivery systems may provide innovative means to reduce costs, minimize toxicity, and improve the therapeutic effect of oral administration
    .

    Characterization of the SP@Curcumin system (picture from Science Advances) Here, the study uses SP as a carrier to construct a microalgae-based oral drug delivery system (SP@Curcumin) for the treatment of various intestinal diseases
    .

    Curcumin is a drug approved by the U.
    S.
    Food and Drug Administration.
    It has a variety of pharmacological functions such as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer, and is loaded into SP
    .

    This study proved that SP@Curcumin can pass through the stomach while keeping its structure intact
    .

    Then, SP@Curcumin can be captured by the intestinal villi and gradually degrade and release curcumin, so as to achieve the ideal drug distribution in the intestine without causing adverse reactions
    .

    In traditional radiotherapy for colon cancer, SP@Curcumin uses a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to inhibit tumor progression, showing a synergistic therapeutic effect
    .

    At the same time, SP@Curcumin also protects normal intestinal tissues during radiotherapy by eliminating the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in normal cells and reducing ROS-induced DNA damage
    .

    In addition to its application in cancer treatment, the study also demonstrated the anti-inflammatory ability of SP@Curcumin in the intestines, which reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and alleviated inflammation-related symptoms in colitis mice
    .

    This work proposes a multifunctional drug delivery system that can bypass physiological barriers, improve drug properties (such as oral bioavailability, biodegradation, and biocompatibility), and achieve combined therapy and therapeutic diagnosis
    .

    The second affiliated hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine/Institute of Translational Medicine doctoral student Zhong Danni, doctoral student Zhang Dongxiao, and the Harvard Medical School Brigham and Women's Hospital Chen Wei are the co-first authors.
    The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine/Institute of Translational Medicine Zhou Min and Tao Wei from Harvard Medical School Brigham and Women's Hospital are the co-corresponding authors
    .

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