Abstract
Standard oral rapamycin (that is, Rapamune) administration is plagued by poor bioavailability and broad biodistribution. Thus, this pleotropic mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor has a narrow therapeutic window and numerous side effects and provides inadequate protection to transplanted cells and tissues. Furthermore, the hydrophobicity of rapamycin limits its use in parenteral formulations. Here, we demonstrate that subcutaneous delivery via poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(propylene sulfide) polymersome nanocarriers significantly alters rapamycin’s cellular biodistribution to repurpose its mechanism of action for tolerance, instead of immunosuppression, and minimize side effects. While oral rapamycin inhibits T cell proliferation directly, subcutaneously administered rapamycin-loaded polymersomes modulate antigen presenting cells in lieu of T cells, significantly improving maintenance of normoglycemia in a clinically relevant, major histocompatibility complex-mismatched, allogeneic, intraportal (liver) islet transplantation model. These results demonstrate the ability of a rationally designed nanocarrier to re-engineer the immunosuppressive mechanism of a drug by controlling cellular biodistribution.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 319-330 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Nature nanotechnology |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Funding
A.D. Jerez designed and created the illustration in Fig. 1. Modifications were made by J.A.B. This research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant no. DGE-1842165. This work was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH grant no. 1DP2HL132390-01); the National Science Foundation (NSF grant no. DGE-1842165); the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering (CARE) at Northwestern University; services and equipment were used at the Flow Cytometry Facility at the University of Chicago; the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) at Northwestern University, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF grant no. ECCS-1542205), the State of Illinois and the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Northwestern University Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging (CAMI), which is supported by NCI grant no. CCSG P30 CA060553 awarded to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center; the BioCryo facility of Northwestern University?s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the SHyNE Resource (NSF grant no. ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF grant no. DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the IIN; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN; and Northwestern University NUSeq Core Facility (NSF grant no. DMR-1229693). SAXS experiments were performed at the DuPont-Northwestern-Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND-CAT) located at Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). DND-CAT is supported by Northwestern University, The Dow Chemical Company, and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Data was collected using an instrument funded by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 0960140. A.D. Jerez designed and created the illustration in Fig. 1. Modifications were made by J.A.B. This research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant no. DGE-1842165. This work was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH grant no. 1DP2HL132390-01); the National Science Foundation (NSF grant no. DGE-1842165); the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering (CARE) at Northwestern University; services and equipment were used at the Flow Cytometry Facility at the University of Chicago; the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) at Northwestern University, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF grant no. ECCS-1542205), the State of Illinois and the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Northwestern University Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging (CAMI), which is supported by NCI grant no. CCSG P30 CA060553 awarded to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center; the BioCryo facility of Northwestern University\u2019s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the SHyNE Resource (NSF grant no. ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF grant no. DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the IIN; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN; and Northwestern University NUSeq Core Facility (NSF grant no. DMR-1229693). SAXS experiments were performed at the DuPont-Northwestern-Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND-CAT) located at Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). DND-CAT is supported by Northwestern University, The Dow Chemical Company, and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Data was collected using an instrument funded by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 0960140.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
- Biomedical Engineering
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering