Nanoparts & cancer drug delivery Flashcards

1
Q

Lec: intro to cancer and drug dleivery + characterisation of nanomedicines

unlike healthy cells, cancer cells do not …

A

carry on maturing (differentiation) or become so specialised
thus cells dont carry out their function in body

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2
Q

name of process of tumour creating its own blood vessels for blood supply and get rid of waste products etc?

A

angiogenesis

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3
Q

meaning of metastasis?

A

cancerous cells invade and destory surrounding healthy tissues and or organs

cancer spreading

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4
Q

term given where the cancer starts?

A

primary tumour

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5
Q

term given to tumour that has spread/ metastasized to another part from where it has originated?

A

secondary tumour

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6
Q

difference between benign and malignant tumour?

A

benign: cancer that doesnt metastasize
malignnat: cancer that invade/metastasize

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7
Q

cancer is a genetic disease, give some reasons for it?

A

inherited,
virus exposure,
toxic agent exposure,
unhealthy diet

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8
Q

examples of toxic agents thtat may cause cancer?

A

chemicals
radiation
UV rays form sun

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9
Q

what is cancer caused by specifically?

A

changes to genes (mutations) that control how cells function, especially grow and divide

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10
Q

type of tumour that is shielded by normal cells, grow slowly, do not spread?

A

benign

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11
Q

in what conditions/ cases may benign tumours cause problems?

A

if:
- become v large
- become uncomfortable/ painful
- are visible
- press on other organs
- take up space in skull
- release hormones, affecting how body works

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12
Q

malignant tumours can spread via what mechanisms to form secondary tumours?

A

bloodstream or lymph system

..they account for majority of cancer deaths

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13
Q

type of cancer treatment depends on what 2 things?

A

type of cancer
how advanced

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14
Q

all cancer treatment plans have SEs which are…

A

dose dependent

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15
Q

name the different treatment options for cancers?

A

hyperthermia
chemo
immunotherapy
hormone therapy
radiation
surgery
photodynamic therapy PDT
DDS

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16
Q

chemo uses drugs to kill cancer cells, slow growth, or prevent spread.
is treatment targeted for chemotherapeutic agents?

A

no

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17
Q

when are chemo drugs used?

A

when targeted/localised treatments not suitable

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18
Q

how are chemo drugs admin?

A

systemically.
have a NTW!

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19
Q

why may chemo be used after surgery/ radiation therapy?

A

to destroy any cancer cells remaining or spread to otherparts of body

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20
Q

3 examples of chemo drugs?

A

docetaxel
5FU
docorubicin

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21
Q

3 serious side effects of chemo such as docetaxel, 5 fluorouracil and doxorubicin?

A

fatigue, nausea and hair loss

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22
Q

name of treatment where body tissue is heated as high as 113F to help damage and kill cancer cells via probes that make energy from microwaves, radiowaves, ultrasound etc?

A

hyperthermia

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23
Q

some cons of hyperthermia treatment?

A

requires special treatment and expertise and can cause:
burns. blisters, pain, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting

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24
Q

name of treatment used to slow/stop growth of breast and prostate cancers that use hormones to grow?

A

hormone therapy

  • blocks bodys ability to make hormones/ interfered with how they behave in body
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25
Q

based on the MoA, list some SEs of hormone therapy?

A

hot flashes
diarrhea
nausea
fatigue

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26
Q

what does immunotherapy do?

A

helps bodys natural defence system in fighting cancer

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27
Q

name given to immune cells found near tumours?

A

TILs
tumour infiltrating lymphocytes

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28
Q

what may cause tumour to be undetected by immune system?

A

due to genetic changes of cancer cells or as result of having some surface proteins that shield tumour

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29
Q

name some cells immunotherapy includes

A

immune checkpoint inhibitors
Tcell transfer energy
MABs
immune system modulators- eg cytokines: INFs and ILs

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30
Q

name of therapy that is targeted and admin systemically?

A

immuno

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31
Q

MoA that allows T cell killing of tumour cell?

A

using checkpoint inhibitors

PD-L1 binds PD-1 and inhibits Tcell killing of tumour cell

by blocking PD-L1/ PD-1, then T cell can kill tumour cell

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32
Q

radiation treatment is localised and not targeted meaning it may cause damage to surrounding tissue, how does it work?

A

high doses of radiation damage DNA of exposed cancer cells to kill them and shrink tumours

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33
Q

surgery is the first line for most solid tumours - remove whole/part of it.
side effects?

A

pain and possible infections

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34
Q

name of treatment that uses drugs activated by light, called photosensitisers?

A

PDT

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35
Q

why is PDT associated with reduced damage to healthy tissues?

A

targeted and localised

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36
Q

how does PDT induce DNA damage and kill cancer cells?

A

upon exposure to light, the drugs (photosensitisers) make free radicals that do the job.

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37
Q

benefit of using DDSs in treating cancer? inc and dec what

A

inc conc of drug to tumour cells
dec conc of drug to healthy cells

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38
Q

2 types of targeting you can do w DDS to treat?

A

passive
active: e.g. antibody targeting

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39
Q

tumours share set of characteristics= ‘hallmarks of cancer’ such as…

A

inc cell proliferation
resistance to cell death
inc cell motility+ invasiveness
induction of angiogenesis

40
Q

name of area around a tumour, including surrounding BV, immune cells, fibroblasts, signalling mols, and ECM?

A

TME
tumour microenvironment

41
Q

what effect does fibrosis have on tumours ?

A

makes them stiff

42
Q

ECM makes up >50% of total tissues and is acidic.
whats the range of pH (pHi) of intracellular?

A

7.0 - 7.2

43
Q

why is intersistial pressure in solid tumours characteristically high?

A

high vessel permeability, low lymphatic drainage, poor perfusion and high cell density around blood vessels

44
Q

effect of the high interstitial pressure within tumour?

A

may hamper adequate uptake of therapeutics in tumour tissue

45
Q

what is pH of tumours?

A

outside acidic but inside is normal around 7

46
Q

what causes the EPR effect?

A

increased permeability and decreased clearance of the tumor blood vessels.

This effect is primarily caused by the abnormal structure and function of the blood vessels within tumors, which tend to be leaky and disorganized compared to normal vessels.

47
Q

what does the EPR effect allow for?

A

accumulation of larger molecules within the tumor, such as nanoparticles or macromolecular drugs, while also preventing their efficient clearance from the tumor tissue.

48
Q

3 requirements of EPR effect?

A

small part size (>600nm)
apparent MW >50kDa
long circ time in bloodstream

49
Q

why can very small particles not take advantage of EPR?

A

filtered out by kidneys :(

50
Q

to do EPR effect, drug must have large MW above renal clearance threshold why?

A

to circulate for longtime. (as takes at least 6h to obtain EPR effect)

most small drugs have t1/2 of around 20min

51
Q

2 potential benefits of loading drugs into NPs include primary and secondary targeting.
whats the difference?

A

primary targets drugs to disease site and secondary targets particular subcellular compartments such as nucleus -> more damage to cancer cells

52
Q

use of nanomedicines means you can potentially reduce off target effects and lower amount of drug need to admin, why?

A

specific targeting and can control drug release (delay to specific location upon stimuli eg pH,light,heat,enz) and can alter PK of drugs (eg disperse hydrophobic drugs in aq conditions)

53
Q

what 4 things can we modify/ select about a nanoparticle to improve drug delivery?

A

size
surface
shape
material

54
Q

4 things to alter surface of NPs for better drug delivery?

A

PEGylation/ other coating
surface func group
surface charge
targeting ligand (antibody, peptide, aptamer)

55
Q

different materials for a NP?

A

carbon NT or metal particle
- dendrimer
-PDC
-liposome
-polymer particle
….

56
Q

different biological ligands eg proteins, polysaccharides, peptides, aptamers, small mols may be added to NPs –> ligand-modified NPs. what may this allow?

A

injected into body + active targeting! by specific binding of biological ligands
to receptor on target disease cells

BLs can facilitate uptake of modified NPs

57
Q

how may biological ligands be incorporated/ introduced to NPs?

A

chemically conjugates/ physically adsorbed on NPs after formed
or linked with NP components eg polymers before formation

58
Q

most common biological ligand and features of it?

A

proteins
antibodies = large and have high specificity
limits hm can attach on NP surface

59
Q

antibodies (AB) can interrupt signals that cancer cells need to grow.
give an example AB and its use?

A

trastuzumab - cancer that is HER2 receptor +ve (breast cancer)

60
Q

antibodies (AB) can help immune system destroy cancer cells
give an example AB and its use?

A

rituximab binds to cell surface protein CD20

61
Q

antibodies (AB) can stop signals that help form blood vessels (angiogenesis inhibitors)
give an example AB and its use?

A

bevacizumab blocks angiogenesis by inhibiting VEGF-A

62
Q

antibodies (AB) can deliver cell-killing substances to cancer cells including chemo agents, toxins, radioactive materials.
give an example AB and its use?

A

brentuximab vedotin (chemo agent) conjugate to treat lymphoma

63
Q

advantages of peptides as an active targeting strategy?

A

well studies,
small,
low cost,
good stability,
ease of conjugation to NP surface,
can be conjugated to NPs at high density

64
Q

aptamers can be used as biological ligands as active targeting.
what are they?

A

class of short nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) comprising several nucleotides

-ve charged
small
v sensitive
biodegradable
have immunogenecity

65
Q

aptamers can be used as biological ligands as active targeting.
what can they recognise?

A

proteins
lipids
nucleic acids
sugars
intra and extracellularly
need special care to avoid nucleases

66
Q

small molecules eg folic acid/ folate may be used as a biological ligand for active targeting. why?

A

folate receptors known to be overexpressed in solid tumour cells and macrophages
= attractive targets for many NPs via receptor mediated endocytosis

67
Q

advantages and disadvantages of using proteins like antibodies and transferrins for active targeting?

A

+ high specificity
- large size
- low stability

68
Q

advantages and disadvantages of using peptides such as RGD, IL4RPep-1 for active targeting?

A

+ easy fabrication
+small size

  • cleavable by peptidase
69
Q

advantages and disadvantages of using aptamers for active targeting?

A

+ high specificity
+ small size

  • cleavable by nuclease
  • high cost
70
Q

advantages and disadvantages of using small molecules such as folate, anisamide and phenylboronic acid for active targeting?

A

+ small size and low cost
- targets also expressed in normal tissues

71
Q

what is the difference between passive and active targeting?

A

passive relies on leaky vasculature and poor lymphatic drainage to improve pharmacodynamic of drug and does not provide sufficient delivery and has high systemic adverse effects.

active has high efficiency, reduces systemic effects, targets primary and secondary tumours and benefits from passive targeting properties

72
Q

give one exmaple of a nanomedicine used in clincic and one way a systemic effect has been avoided?

A

liposome encapsulated doxorubicin for ovarian cancer: doxil protects patents from cardiotox of unencapsulated drug

73
Q

characterisation of nanomedicines……

what can we check about NMs?

A

all physicochem props: size, surface charge, shape
stability
loading efficiency and controlling release mechanism
toxicity to diff cell lines

74
Q

why may particle size + size distribution always be checked with NPs?

A

they affect PK
size also affects cellular uptake, tissue distribution, clearance…

75
Q

name diff techniques that can be used to determine the size and surface morphology of nanoparticles?

A

DLS dynamic light scattering
NTA nanoparticle tracking analysis

76
Q

briefly outline how dynamic light scattering (DLS) works?

A

particles in suspensions and emulsions, exposed to laser beam, particles move, laser scattered at different intensities, analysis of fluctuations using stokes einstein gives particle size

smaller parts move faster than larger in liquid,
based on Brownian motion (diffusion coefficient)

77
Q

DLS estimates the size and size distribution of particles by giving what 2 parameters?

A

hydrodynamic diameter and PDI

78
Q

why might DLS not work accurately if samples are too dilute or too concentrated?

A

dilute: not enough scattering events and concentrated causes multiple scattering, particles may not be freely mobile in suspension

79
Q

DLS: whats calculated from the electrophophoretic mobility measured using laser soppler velocimetry. scattered light

A

surface charge/ zeta potential

80
Q

name one technique that is based on light scattering and brownian motion that provides information about particle size, size distribution and count based concentration of particles?

A

nanoparticle tracking analysis

camera gets video of particles

81
Q

give 3 microscopy techniques that are useful for size and surface morphology characterization?

A

TEM
SEM
AFM

82
Q

name one technique that used an electron beam that interacts with an ultra thin specimen as it passes through, forming an image, which gives direct observation of the sample and tells us about the size, size distrubution, shape and aggregation?

A

TEM

83
Q

electron microscopes have lower resolving power and magnification compared to light microscopes, true or false?

A

false

84
Q

how is SEM different to TEM?

A

helps visualise surface morphology by adding 3d viewing

85
Q

cons of sem?

A

expensive, time consuming, stability issues and lead to artefacts

86
Q

which technique is helpful for visualising SLNs and can be obtained in an aq medium, which then provides analysis in 3D?

A

AFM

87
Q

what information can we get from XRD?

A

atomic arrangements in amorphous materials
crystallinity

88
Q

DSC (differential scanning calorimetry- diff to DLS) can give us what information about a sample ?

A

polymorphism, degree of crystallinity, purity, decomposition behaviour and melting behaviour

89
Q

what does DSC measure?

A

diff in amount of heat req to increase temp of sample and reference measured as function of temp

ref sample should have well-defined heat capacity over range of temps to be scanned

90
Q

what can be determined by measuring particle velocity in an electric field?

A

surface charge

91
Q

what can laser doppler velocimetry be used to measure?

A

= laser light scattering technique.

velocity

92
Q

what can be used to check the zeta potential?

A

malvern zetasizer

2 electrodes used and surface charge detected

93
Q

what technique separates molecules based on their hydrophobicity in order to determine surface hydrophobicity?

A

hydrophobic interaction chromatography HIC

biphasic partitioning and measure contact angle

94
Q

drug encapsulation
encapsulated drug = X - Y

A

total amount drug - free drug in supernatant solution

95
Q

% of encapsulated drug = ?

A

amount of trapped drug/ total amount drug x 100

96
Q

drug-excipient compatibility done using?

A

FT-IR spectrophotometer

results for drug, polymer, DDS are analysed sep then correlated for incompatibilities