University of California Discovers New Drug Delivery System

A study published by the scientists from UC Santa Barbara, claims of discovering a new drug delivery system. The new system is said to be a biological mechanism to deliver nanoparticles into the tissue.

Erkki Ruoslahti, senior author of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at UCSB, said: This work is important because when giving a drug to a patient, it circulates in the blood stream, but often doesn’t get into the tissue. This is especially true with tumors. We believe this method will lead to better, more efficient delivery of drugs.

The scientists developed a peptide, a small piece of protein that can carry cargo for delivery into the cell. The cargo could be a nanoparticle, or even a cell. Riding on the peptide, the cargo gets out of the blood vessel and penetrates the tissue, reported University of California.

Mr. Ruoslahti explained that another exciting aspect of the study is the discovery that viruses appear to use this CendR system to get into cells. “It’s a natural system. We’re not quite clear what the exact function is, but viruses appear to take advantage of it.

Ongoing research in the Ruoslahti lab is understanding how viruses use this system, and then working to develop inhibitors to prevent viruses from entering the cell.