Targeting of functionalized nanoparticles in microfluidics systems containing multiple organoids

Abstract

Cancer is a disease with high mortality rate worldwide with approximately 8.2 million of deaths per year according to data from Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA). Chemotherapy is one of the main methods to treat this disease, however results in a high degree of toxicity. In this context, the use of nanoparticles (NPs) with functionalized ligands and incorporated drugs offers a powerful way for therapeutic purposes since they improve the therapeutic efficiency and the selectivity of the drug for tumor cells, minimizing the resistance imposed by the tumor cells against the drug and adverse collateral effects. However, an important limitation for biomedical application of NPs is their low kinetic stability. In order to overcome this limitation, the present project looks for remarkable advances in the development of chemically functionalized NPs with kinetic stabilizers and cell-specific ligands for selective interaction with tumor cells. The aim is to provide stability and selectivity to NPs in order to ensure the development of a promising alternative for cancer treatment. The studies will be conducted on an organ-on-a-chip platform, which consists of a microfluidic system incorporating synthetic in vitro tissues to simulate human physiology at the tissue and organ level. NPs will be placed in contact with healthy and tumoral organoids into microfluidic chips. In this way, more reliable evaluations of the action of the medicines in the organism can be provided through operation in organs-on-a-chip. (AU)