Drug delivery articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tumour distribution of targeted therapies is intrinsically heterogeneous. Here, the authors develop a strategy to decorate entire tumour membranes with synthetic receptors for amplified targeting of therapeutics and show that such cooperative membrane-targeted phototherapy results in tumour regression in mice.

    • Heegon Kim
    • , Junsung Lee
    •  & Ji-Ho Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The majority of treatment options for cancers are ineffective due to limited therapeutic targeting. Here, the authors develop bispecific antibodies that effectively target nanomaterials to triple-negative breast cancer cell receptors and deliver therapeutics leading to inhibition of tumour growth.

    • Yu-Cheng Su
    • , Pierre-Alain Burnouf
    •  & Steve R. Roffler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid metals are excellent candidate materials for biomedicine, owing to their intriguing optical properties and chemical stability. Here, the authors design multifunctional theranostic liquid metal nanocapsules that, upon irradiation, generate heat and reactive oxygen species and change shape to release drugs.

    • Svetlana A. Chechetka
    • , Yue Yu
    •  & Eijiro Miyako

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There have been numerous attempts to develop nanomaterials to reach cells of the central nervous system for drug delivery. Here, the authors investigate the cellular fate of polymer-based nanoparticles with varying surface chemistries after administration directly into the brain.

    • Eric Song
    • , Alice Gaudin
    •  & W. Mark Saltzman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Leukaemia cells resident in the bone marrow niche are often resistant to conventional therapies. In this study, the authors develop light-sensitive, polymeric, retinoic acid-containing nanoparticles that are able to modulate the differentiation of resistant leukaemia cells bothin vitro and in vivo.

    • Carlos Boto
    • , Emanuel Quartin
    •  & Lino Ferreira

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drug delivery in brain tumours is still a significant clinical concern. In this study, the authors develop a biomimetic lipoprotein nanoparticle for the efficient delivery of ATF5 siRNA inRas-activated brain cancer cells, where the nanoparticle is internalized by macropinocytosis in a Ras-dependent manner.

    • Jia-Lin Huang
    • , Gan Jiang
    •  & Xiao-Ling Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluid shear stress plays a critical role in receptor-mediated signalling and has been shown to sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis. Here, Mitchellet al. introduce polymer micro- and nanoparticles tethered to tumour cells to amplify fluid shear stress effects, and find that they can enhance immune cytokine-mediated apoptosis of tumour cells in vitro and in vivo.

    • Michael J. Mitchell
    • , Jamie Webster
    •  & Robert Langer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sustained release of drugs within the gastrointestinal tract as well as their detection following administration is a challenge. Here, the authors develop a microcarrier that supported sustained drug release in the gastrointestinal tractin vivoand could be monitored with real-time imaging.

    • Rui Wang
    • , Lei Zhou
    •  & Fan Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Monoclonal antibodies are highly effective therapeutics that can be delivered as proteins or encoded DNA or mRNA. Here the authors develop lipid nanoparticle-formulated nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding an HIV-1 neutralizing antibody and see sustained and protective antibody levels in treated mice.

    • Norbert Pardi
    • , Anthony J. Secreto
    •  & Drew Weissman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in photodynamic cancer treatments is limited by low intraturmoural oxygen availability. Here the authors show that irradiation of a silicon phthalocyanine leads to uncaging of a biologically active molecule or to ROS formation in an oxygen-dependent manner.

    • Erin D. Anderson
    • , Alexander P. Gorka
    •  & Martin J. Schnermann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reversible manipulation of cell-cell interactions has potential applications in basic research and cell-based therapy. Here the authors control cell-cell adhesion in vitrowith light, by modifying the surface sugars of cells to display β-cyclodextrin, which recognises one isoform of light-isomerizable azobenzene linkers.

    • Peng Shi
    • , Enguo Ju
    •  & Xiaogang Qu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drugs that sensitize tumour cells to ionizing radiation are prized because they can overcome resistance to radiotherapy. Here, the authors show that anti-tubulin drugs conjugated to cetuximab or trastuzumab can radiosensitize EGFR- or HER2-expressing tumors by increasing DNA damage and cell death due to ionizing radiation.

    • Stephen R. Adams
    • , Howard C. Yang
    •  & Sunil J. Advani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blockade of PD-L1 is usually not very effective in colon cancer patients. Here, the authors show the efficacy of PD-L1 blockade in combination with coordination polymer nanoparticles carrying oxaliplatin and a photosensitizer to induce anti-tumor immunity in metastatic models of colon cancer.

    • Chunbai He
    • , Xiaopin Duan
    •  & Wenbin Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mitochondrial complex I deficiency is the most common respiratory chain defect in mitochondrial disease in children and currently there is no effective treatment. In this study, the authors show that succinate prodrugs can alleviate metabolic decompensation in Leigh syndrome patient fibroblasts.

    • Johannes K. Ehinger
    • , Sarah Piel
    •  & Eskil Elmér

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Application of carbon nanotubes as drug delivery carriers is stalled by uncertainties over their distribution and toxicity in vivo. Here, the authors use animal models to show that, while the bulk of nanotubes is renally cleared, a fraction can be eliminated through an alternative hepatobiliary pathway.

    • Simone Alidori
    • , Robert L. Bowman
    •  & Michael R. McDevitt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The excipients used to solubilise hydrophobic drugs sometimes interfere with drug behaviour or induce adverse side effects once injected. Here, the authors use a low-temperature process to obtain surfactant-stripped micelles with high drug concentration for delivery of a wide range of hydrophobic cargoes.

    • Yumiao Zhang
    • , Wentao Song
    •  & Jonathan F. Lovell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The in vivoanticancer efficacy of nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery depends on the association between the drug and its carrier. Here, the authors use FRET to show that the drug hydrophobicity, and miscibility with the carrier, influence nanoparticle accumulation in murine tumour models.

    • Yiming Zhao
    • , François Fay
    •  & Willem J. M. Mulder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of inorganic carriers for drug delivery is often limited by toxicity and persistence of inorganic species in the body. Here, the authors report the use of nanocarriers with a liquid-phase eutectic gallium-indium core capable of delivering doxorubicin and subsequently fusing and degrading under mildly acidic conditions.

    • Yue Lu
    • , Quanyin Hu
    •  & Zhen Gu

  • Article |

    Transgenic diatom algae can incorporate proteins in their silica shells. Here the authors design diatoms that can be decorated with tumour-specific antibody of choice and use them as natural nanoparticles for targeted delivery of a chemotherapeutic drug, impeding mouse xenograft tumour growth.

    • Bahman Delalat
    • , Vonda C. Sheppard
    •  & Nicolas H. Voelcker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drug-loaded nanoparticles allow controlled release and enhanced delivery, yet understanding in vivobehavior has been difficult. Here, the authors develop a platinum prodrug coupled to a polymer platform, and use intravital imaging to show that the nanoparticle accumulates in macrophages, from the which drug redistributes to neighboring tumour cells.

    • Miles A. Miller
    • , Yao-Rong Zheng
    •  & Ralph Weissleder

  • Article |

    Telodendrimers are versatile and robust nanoparticle-based drug carriers. From a screen of potential small-molecule building blocks, Shi et al.identify rhein-containing telodendrimers as stable and effective nanocarriers of doxorubicin for treating a xenograft Raji lymphoma model.

    • Changying Shi
    • , Dandan Guo
    •  & Juntao Luo

  • Article |

    Cystic fibrosis is a lethal genetic disorder commonly caused by the F508del mutation which is not amenable to gene therapy. Here, the authors use triplex-forming PNA molecules and donor DNA in biodegradable polymer nanoparticles to correct F508del and achieve clinically relevant levels of gene editing.

    • Nicole Ali McNeer
    • , Kavitha Anandalingam
    •  & Marie E. Egan

  • Article |

    Mouldable hydrogels find a variety of applications in the biomedical industry. Here, Appel et al. show a method to fabricate hydrogels through a self-assembly process based on the interaction between biopolymers and functional nanoparticles for multistage drug delivery in vivo.

    • Eric A. Appel
    • , Mark W. Tibbitt
    •  & Robert Langer

  • Article |

    The death receptor CD95/Fas induces apoptosis of many normal cells but prevents necrotic death of cancer cells. Here the authors demonstrate that CD95 activation promotes a cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype, and that CSCs but not differentiated cancer cells are resistant to CD95-mediated apoptosis and depend on CD95 signalling to prevent necrosis.

    • Paolo Ceppi
    • , Abbas Hadji
    •  & Marcus E. Peter

  • Article |

    Legumain is a protease found expressed in tumour cells and may be useful in the specific targeting of chemotherapeutics to tumour cells. Here, the authors design nanoparticles that are loaded with doxorubicin and contain a legumain cleavage site; once the nanoparticles enter tumour cells legumain activity results in the release of doxorubicin.

    • Ze Liu
    • , Min Xiong
    •  & Rong Xiang

  • Article |

    Polymer-based drug-delivery strategies can sometimes be hampered by the poor stability of polymer–drug conjugates and their ineffectual drug-release profiles. Here, the authors fabricate a cyclodextrin-based polymer–drug nano-assembly and demonstrate effective in vivotumour reduction activity.

    • Ran Namgung
    • , Yeong Mi Lee
    •  & Won Jong Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The delivery of therapeutics using an external trigger is an attractive route for the improvement of targeted disease treatment. Here, the authors have discovered a porphyrin–phospholipid liposome for light-controlled membrane permeabilization and use the system to deliver an anticancer drug in vivo.

    • Kevin A. Carter
    • , Shuai Shao
    •  & Jonathan F. Lovell

  • Article |

    Nanoparticles can deliver drugs to tumours but improvements in selectively targeting tumour cells are required. Here, Mo et al. develop nanocarriers that take advantage of high ATP levels in tumour cells and show that these nanoparticles encapsulating the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin can inhibit tumour growth in mice.

    • Ran Mo
    • , Tianyue Jiang
    •  & Zhen Gu

  • Article |

    Small interfering RNA is degraded by plasma and can’t cross the cell membrane due to its negative charge. Here, the authors present an influenza inspired polymer carrier, capable of local RNA delivery, which degrades to a non-toxic by-product, and is thus suitable for multiple doses.

    • Nghia P Truong
    • , Wenyi Gu
    •  & Michael J Monteiro

  • Article |

    Nanoparticles released from living cells can be used as drug delivery vehicles, but scaling up their production is challenging. Here, Wang and colleagues create nanoparticles from natural lipids contained in grapefruit juice that can encapsulate various types of therapeutics and deliver them to cells in vitro and in vivo.

    • Qilong Wang
    • , Xiaoying Zhuang
    •  & Huang-Ge Zhang

  • Article |

    Microparticles are small vesicular structures that are shed from cellular plasma membranes. Tang and colleagues show that cells treated with chemotherapeutic drugs produce drug-containing microparticles, which can be used as anticancer agents in mice.

    • Ke Tang
    • , Yi Zhang
    •  & Bo Huang

  • Article |

    The bacterial channel protein MscL opens in response to mechanical forces and could be exploited for vesicular-based drug delivery. Doerneret al. show that functional MscL can be expressed in mammalian cells and facilitate the controlled cellular uptake of relatively large, membrane-impermeable bioactive molecules.

    • Julia F. Doerner
    • , Sebastien Febvay
    •  & David E. Clapham

  • Article |

    Cell-penetrating peptides can be used to deliver nucleic acids and proteins to cells, however they lack selectivity. In this study, cell-penetrating peptides are generated that can selectively target tumour cells of different cellular origins and these may be useful in the treatment of cancer.

    • Eisaku Kondo
    • , Ken Saito
    •  & Masayuki Matsushita

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