IIT Delhi develops new technology for chemotherapy applications

The technology can be based on the RBC (red blood cell) membrane of patient, thereby minimising the side-effects.  

A research group at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) has developed a technology for chemotherapy applications using red blood cell (RBC) membrane. 

The technology is a significant success in achieving personalised therapy as it can be based on the RBC membrane of patient, thereby minimising the side-effects.  

The work by Neetu Singh (lead researcher) and Sahil Malhotra from the Centre for Biomedical Engineering was recently published in Acta Biomaterialia. 

The technology involves engineering the RBCs in the lab to produce smaller (nano sized) biocompatible vesicles. Drug molecules can simply be trapped inside the particle’s lipid bilayer and circulate for a longer time. The work was validated in an animal system by Neetu Singh’s lab in collaboration with Sujata Mohanty from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. 

Currently, few synthetic nanoparticles being used in nanomedicine suffer from short circulation times and are often associated with non-specific toxicity.  

IIT Delhi novel technology for chemotherapy applications 

• Novel  technology that engineers red  blood  cells  to load chemotherapeutic drugs for advanced and effective  chemotherapy. 
• It  is considered to be safer than synthetic nanoparticles since host’s  immune system will recognise  these nanovesicles to be self-particles. 
• Developed  platform can be used for multiple drugs and can prolong the  residence time of drugs in the blood eventually resulting in higher  accumulation in the tumor cells. 

“The concept here utilises body’s own cells to load multiple drugs at the same time and reach tumor sites in significant concentrations. Interestingly, this nano-RBCs platform has synthetic tunability similar to other polymeric systems or the commonly used liposomes but have proved to be more efficacious”, Neetu Singh, CBME, IIT Delhi said.  

She added, “We were intrigued by nature’s own oxygen delivery vehicle, the RBCs, as these are also the longest circulating cells. However, achieving complete control over the physical and chemical properties of a natural systems similar to the way we can control a synthetic system is challenging. Over the last few years, we have successfully demonstrated the utilization of RBCs for drug delivery and developed strategies where the naturally derived vesicles can be tuned for various applications.” 

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