PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Drug delivery researchers at Oregon State University have developed a device with the potential to improve gene therapy for patients with inherited lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
In cell culture and mouse models, scientists in the OSU College of Pharmacy demonstrated a novel technique for the aerosolization of inhalable nanoparticles that can be used to carry messenger RNA, the technology underpinning COVID-19 vaccines, to patients’ lungs.
The findings are important because the current nebulization method for nanoparticles subjects them to shear stress, hindering their ability to encapsulate the genetic material and causing them to aggregate in certain areas of the lungs rather than spread out evenly, the researchers said.
The study led by Gaurav Sahay, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences, was published in ACS Nano.
Sahay’s lab studies lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, as a gene delivery vehicle with a focus on cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic disorder that results in persistent lung infection and affects 30,000 people in the U.S., with about 1,000 new cases identified every year.
R&I~Smit
Anothermike