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In Vitro Release Study of L-Tyrosine-Loaded PLGA Microparticles

Description

Polymer drug delivery system offers a key to a glaring issue in modern administration routes of drugs and biologics. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) can be used to encapsulate drugs and biologics and deliver them into the patient, which allows high local concentration (compared to current treatment methods), protection of the cargo…

Polymer drug delivery system offers a key to a glaring issue in modern administration routes of drugs and biologics. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) can be used to encapsulate drugs and biologics and deliver them into the patient, which allows high local concentration (compared to current treatment methods), protection of the cargo from the bodily environment, and reduction in systemic side effects. This experiment used a single emulsion technique to encapsulate L-tyrosine in PLGA microparticles and UV spectrophotometry to analyze the drug release over a period of one week. The release assay found that for the tested samples, the released amount is distinct initially, but is about the same after 4 days, and they generally follow the same normalized percent released pattern. The experiment could continue with testing more samples, test the same samples for a longer duration, and look into higher w/w concentrations such as 20% or 50%.
ContributorsSeo, Jinpyo (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Pal, Amrita (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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Investigating the Potential of F16BP-poly(I:C) Microparticle Associated CAR Therapies

Description
Adoptive cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified immune cells are revolutionizing cancer treatment. These innovative immunotherapies have a promising outlook for liquid cancers, but lack robustness against solid tumors due to complex variables introduced by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Additionally, existing CAR-T cell treatments are commonly accompanied…

Adoptive cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified immune cells are revolutionizing cancer treatment. These innovative immunotherapies have a promising outlook for liquid cancers, but lack robustness against solid tumors due to complex variables introduced by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Additionally, existing CAR-T cell treatments are commonly accompanied by toxic side effects. However, by grafting a CAR construct onto macrophages, a professional phagocytic innate cell which are actively recruited by solid tumors, the efficacy of this treatment is hoped to be extended beyond hematological malignancies. Moreover, the introduction of energy metabolite-based polymers (EMPs) to provide a sustained release of activating F16BP-poly(I:C) microparticles could address the toxicity complications that arise from CAR treatments. It was determined that PLGA-F16BP-poly(I:C) microparticles allow for CAR-macrophage activation in vitro, though not in a sustained manner. Moreover, F16BP-poly(I:C) microparticles were better geared toward reducing cytokine related toxicity in vitro, with in vivo results remaining inconclusive. These findings suggest prioritization between macrophage activation or cytokine storm reduction would be required at this time, though additional future studies to explore variables such as CAR-macrophage sensitivity and the positive control could help refine this immunotherapy.
ContributorsHalim, Michelle (Author) / Acharya, Abhinav P (Thesis advisor) / Holloway, Julianne (Committee member) / Khalifehzadeh, Layla (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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Ultrasound Sensitive Injectable Materials

Description
In an embolization therapy, a material is injected into a vessel to block blood flow. While this therapy is useful in starving cancerous cells it can be dangerous, with some blockades in the brain dislodging and causing strokes or blindness. Currently, embolic materials on the market such as metal coils,…

In an embolization therapy, a material is injected into a vessel to block blood flow. While this therapy is useful in starving cancerous cells it can be dangerous, with some blockades in the brain dislodging and causing strokes or blindness. Currently, embolic materials on the market such as metal coils, balloons, and liquid embolic agents do not have a quick removal procedure. An ultrasound cleavable material could be removed in an emergency situation without invasive surgery. The primary goal of this research is to design and synthesize a polymer that can be broken down by high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Initially, we have tested the ultrasound sensitive qualities on PPODA-QT hydrogel, a common embolic agent, but the gel showed no physical change after HIFU exposure. It is theorized that PNIPAAm combined with HIFU sensitive monomers can develop a temperature and ultrasound sensitive embolic agent. In our studies, poly(NIPAAm-co-tBa) had a slight lower critical solution temperature (LCST) change of about 2˚C from before to after HIFU while the study with poly(NIPAAm-co-ACL-BME) and PPODA-QT showed no change in LCST.
ContributorsLein, Karolena (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Pal, Amrita (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05