Affinity-targeted nanomedicines for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer and endometriosis
CIC nanoGUNE Seminars
- Speaker
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Lorena Simon-Gracia, University of Tartu, Estonia
- When
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2022/08/18
13:00 - Place
- nanoGUNE seminar room, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia - San Sebastian
- Add to calendar
-
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**Affinity-targeted nanomedicines for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer
and endometriosis**
Lorena Simon-Gracia
PhD, Associate Professor.
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu,
Estonia.
Nanoparticle-based theranostics can address some of the issues derived from
the administration of free drugs or imaging agents, like poor solubility,
instability in the biological environment, low bioavailability, and poor
penetration across biological barriers. In the case of cancer and other
pathologies such as endometriosis, nanoparticles can passively accumulate in
the desired tissue by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect,
which is characterized by leaky blood vessels. However, the EPR effect can
vary extensively between patients and in preclinical and clinical studies,
only a small percentage of nanoparticles have shown to accumulate in tumors by
passive targeting. The homing of nanoparticles can be increased by using
targeting peptides that recognize receptors overexpressed in the tissue of
interest. Peptide-phage display (PPD) is a powerful technique to identify and
validate peptides that recognize differentially expressed markers in healthy
tissues and at sites of disease. Using PPD, tumor-penetrating peptides (TPPs)
and peptides that target endometriotic lesions have been identified and used
to guide nanoparticles to the tissue of interest. pH-sensitive polymeric
nanovesicles (polymersomes) and inorganic nanoparticles functionalized with
targeting peptides and loaded with novel anticancer drugs have demonstrated
superior accumulation in tumors and endometriotic lesions and better
anticancer effect than non-targeted nanosystems. Affinity-guided nanomedicines
combining targeting peptides and stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems can
be used to develop more personalized therapies and diagnostic tools.
**Host:** J. M. Pitarke