Advanced porous hybrid hydrogels for sustained drug delivery

Doctorale and postdoctoral grants, AAP 2020

Team: UMR 8612, Institut Galien Paris-Saclay. Team 7; Nanomedicines for the treatment of severe diseases

Project leader: Simona Mura

Abstract:

Injectable hydrogels have been widely explored as reservoirs for localized drug delivery in the vicinity of the site of action aiming to increase the drug bioavailability and obtain the optimal pharmacological activity while reducing the systemic toxicity. The locoregional administration has the potential to increase the drug therapeutic index and might allow a reduction of both requested doses and dosing frequency compared to the systemic route.

In oncology, such an approach can have a strong impact, for instance, in the treatment of the peritoneal carcinomatosis, an abdominal cancer arising from spreading and metastasis of primary tumors located in the peritoneal cavity. The treatment of these tumors by intraperitoneal drug delivery represents a beneficial alternative to the systemic one, which is little or not at all effective. However, intraperitoneally administered drugs have a short residence time due to their rapid adsorption in the systemic circulation, which limits the effectiveness of the treatment.

Gel-based materials that can be injected in the peritoneal cavity might offer efficient drug retention and controlled release for prolonged periods. However, existing systems suffer of insufficient mechanical strength, poor control on porosity and drug diffusion pathways with the abrupt release of only physically encapsulated drugs.

Herein these issues will be tackled by constructing an advanced injectable, adhesive hybrid system by opportune engineering a porosity-controlled hydrogel matrix containing medicated nanocarriers. This project aspires to construct a versatile polymer platform whose properties can be easily manipulated by acting on the different building components. The investigation of the synthetic/formulation parameters will generate important knowledge on the role of the physico-chemical properties of the gel matrix and nanocarriers on the features of the hybrid hydrogel. Overall, this project will allow to propel the development of such gel-based material in the biomedical field for controlled delivery applications.

Themes:

Collaborations:

  • Pr Laurent Corté, Chimie Moléculaire, Macromoléculaire, Matériaux (Equipe Chimie et Physicochimie de Formulation)