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- All Subjects: nanotechnology
Description
A series of mitochondria targeting probes was synthesized for the purpose of exploring the feasibility of a mitochondria targeting fluorescent sensor. Of the probes, the probe with a two carbon spacer showed the best co-localization from staining with the established MitoTracker Red® FM, indicating a potential development of the probe into mitochondria targeting sensor. However, cytotoxicity was observed for the probe with a six carbon spacer. Three additional mitochondria targeting fluorescent probes of longer spacer groups were synthesized, but the cytotoxicity was not observed to be as high as that of the probe with a two carbon spacer. The cytotoxicity was characterized to be that of caspase dependent cell death. To screen for a possible effect on apoptosis due to the mitochondrial probe, three fluorescent fusion proteins binding the anti-apoptotic proteins were designed and expressed. Each purified fusion protein was then incubated with the cytotoxic mitochondrial probe, and the mixture was isolated by running an affinity column. The fluorescence analysis of eluted fractions showed preliminary data of possible interaction between the protein and the mitochondrial probe.
ContributorsLee, Fred (Author) / Meldrum, Deirdre R. (Thesis director) / Tian, Yanqing (Committee member) / Zhang, Liqiang (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Relapse after tumor dormancy is one of the leading causes of cancer recurrence that ultimately leads to patient mortality. Upon relapse, cancer manifests as metastases that are linked to almost 90% cancer related deaths. Capture of the dormant and relapsed tumor phenotypes in high-throughput will allow for rapid targeted drug discovery, development and validation. Ablation of dormant cancer will not only completely remove the cancer disease, but also will prevent any future recurrence. A novel hydrogel, Amikagel, was developed by crosslinking of aminoglycoside amikacin with a polyethylene glycol crosslinker. Aminoglycosides contain abundant amount of easily conjugable groups such as amino and hydroxyl moieties that were crosslinked to generate the hydrogel. Cancer cells formed 3D spheroidal structures that underwent near complete dormancy on Amikagel high-throughput drug discovery platform. Due to their dormant status, conventional anticancer drugs such as mitoxantrone and docetaxel that target the actively dividing tumor phenotype were found to be ineffective. Hypothesis driven rational drug discovery approaches were used to identify novel pathways that could sensitize dormant cancer cells to death. Strategies were used to further accelerate the dormant cancer cell death to save time required for the therapeutic outcome.
Amikagel’s properties were chemo-mechanically tunable and directly impacted the outcome of tumor dormancy or relapse. Exposure of dormant spheroids to weakly stiff and adhesive formulation of Amikagel resulted in significant relapse, mimicking the response to changes in extracellular matrix around dormant tumors. Relapsed cells showed significant differences in their metastatic potential compared to the cells that remained dormant after the induction of relapse. Further, the dissertation discusses the use of Amikagels as novel pDNA binding resins in microbead and monolithic formats for potential use in chromatographic purifications. High abundance of amino groups allowed their utilization as novel anion-exchange pDNA binding resins. This dissertation discusses Amikagel formulations for pDNA binding, metastatic cancer cell separation and novel drug discovery against tumor dormancy and relapse.
Amikagel’s properties were chemo-mechanically tunable and directly impacted the outcome of tumor dormancy or relapse. Exposure of dormant spheroids to weakly stiff and adhesive formulation of Amikagel resulted in significant relapse, mimicking the response to changes in extracellular matrix around dormant tumors. Relapsed cells showed significant differences in their metastatic potential compared to the cells that remained dormant after the induction of relapse. Further, the dissertation discusses the use of Amikagels as novel pDNA binding resins in microbead and monolithic formats for potential use in chromatographic purifications. High abundance of amino groups allowed their utilization as novel anion-exchange pDNA binding resins. This dissertation discusses Amikagel formulations for pDNA binding, metastatic cancer cell separation and novel drug discovery against tumor dormancy and relapse.
ContributorsGrandhi, Taraka Sai Pavan (Author) / Rege, Kaushal (Thesis advisor) / Meldrum, Deirdre R (Thesis advisor) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Caplan, Michael (Committee member) / Tian, Yanqing (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability worldwide with 1.7 million TBIs reported annually in the United States. Broadly, TBI can be classified into focal injury, associated with cerebral contusion, and diffuse injury, a widespread injury pathology. TBI results in a host of pathological alterations and may lead to a transient blood-brain-barrier (BBB) breakdown. Although the BBB dysfunction after TBI may provide a window for therapeutic delivery, the current drug delivery approaches remains largely inefficient due to rapid clearance, inactivation and degradation. One potential strategy to address the current therapeutic limitations is to employ nanoparticle (NP)-based technology to archive greater efficacy and reduced clearance compared to standard drug administration. However, NP application for TBI is challenging not only due to the transient temporal resolution of the BBB breakdown, but also due to the heterogeneous (focal/diffuse) aspect of the disease itself. Furthermore, recent literature suggests sex of the animal influences neuroinflammation/outcome after TBI; yet, the influence of sex on BBB integrity following TBI and subsequent NP delivery has not been previously investigated. The overarching hypothesis for this thesis is that TBI-induced compromised BBB and leaky vasculature will enable delivery of systemically injected NPs to the injury penumbra. This study specifically explored the feasibility and the temporal accumulation of NPs in preclinical mouse models of focal and diffuse TBI. Key findings from these studies include the following. (1) After focal TBI, NPs ranging from 20-500nm exhibited peak accumulation within the injury penumbra acutely (1h) post-injury. (2) A smaller delayed peak of NP accumulation (40nm) was observed sub-acutely (3d) after focal brain injury. (3) Mild diffuse TBI simulated with a mild closed head injury model did not display any measurable NP accumulation after 1h post-injury. (4) In contrast, a moderate diffuse model (fluid percussion injury) demonstrated peak accumulation at 3h post-injury with up to 500 nm size NPs accumulating in cortical tissue. (5) Robust NP accumulation (40nm) was found in female mice compared to the males at 24h and 3d following focal brain injury. Taken together, these results demonstrate the potential for NP delivery at acute and sub-acute time points after TBI by exploiting the compromised BBB. Results also reveal a potential sex dependent component of BBB disruption leading to altered NP accumulation. The applications of this research are far-reaching ranging from theranostic delivery to personalized NP delivery for effective therapeutic outcome.
ContributorsBharadwaj, Vimala Nagabhushana (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah E (Thesis advisor) / Kodibagkar, Vikram D (Thesis advisor) / Kleim, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Tian, Yanqing (Committee member) / Lifshitz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Anderson, Trent R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018