###Functionalised Nanoparticles towards New Targeted Treatments for Pulmonary Hypertension
Project ID: 2228bd1043 (You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Healthcare Technologies
UCL Lead department: School of Pharmacy
Lead Supervisor: Maryam Parhizkar
Project Summary:
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening chronic disease when the small lung arteries become thicker and the channels for blood to pass narrower. Conventional therapies do not address the thickening of the vessels and therefore so far have had limited impact on prolonging survival. Treatments with anticancer drugs in combination with current blood vessel dilators have shown to be a promising approach to tackle established PH. Although anticancer therapies represent an attractive strategy to regress PH symptoms, their non-selectivity remains a major challenge, mainly due to severe side effects that limit their use.
A strategy is needed whereby the delivery of the anticancer drug is tailored to the disease site in the lung blood vessels. Central to such strategy is the ability to monitor the treatment progress in a non-invasive manner. If we can identify that the drug is reaching the target cells and evaluate the local concentration through imaging, we could predict the response of specific target tissue and therefore can influence the amount of drug that will be used to achieve the desired therapeutic response whilst avoiding the unwanted side effects.
A solution to this clinical problem is to package anticancer drugs in nano-sized particles to increase the localisation of therapy to the diseased tissue only and in turn decrease the adverse side effects. This project sets out to develop drug delivery strategies based on nanoparticles that can specifically concentrate in the lung arteries through a targeting molecule (anti-ACE, 9B9) that will be incorporated on the surface of the particles. In addition, the nano-drug delivery system will be combined with imaging, to both improve and guide PH therapy. Nanoparticles will also be functionalised with a radioactive molecule (e.g. indium) that allows the particles to be visualised by advanced imaging methods (positron emission tomography (PET) scan).