Scientists are building incredible small drugs that could revolutionize how we treat devastating diseases, including some forms of cancer that are almost incurable.
A team of researchers from Northwestern University and BYU, published a new perspective in the journal Nature Review, explaining how precisely designed nanomedicine (treatments built on microscopic scales) can transform health care.
“Structural nanomedicine is a huge shift in how we make the development of treatment,” explains Chad A. Mirkin, Ph.D., of Northwestern University. “By focusing on the complex details in our therapeutic agents and how to show different medicinal ingredients in larger structures, we can design more effective and targeted interventions that will ultimately be more beneficial to patients.”
Unlike traditional drugs, scientists control the placement of each atom, and current nanomedicine, including mRNA vaccines used during the 199 pandemic, lack consistency. Dr. Mirkin describes the conventional approach to vaccine design as a “mixer method” in which key components are simply mixed together without a precise structure.
The problem with this method? “Not two drugs in the batch are the same,” Dr. Milkin said. “Nanoscale vaccines have different numbers of lipids, different manifestations of lipids, different amounts of RNA and different sizes of particles. There are unlimited numbers of variables in nanomedical formulations.”
A promising example of structural nanomedicine is spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), which are spherical forms of DNA that can easily enter cells. Dr. Milkin noted: “We have shown that SNA-based vaccines or therapeutic overall structural manifestations (not just active chemicals) greatly affect their efficacy. This finding can lead to the treatment of many different types of cancer. In some cases, we use it to treat any other patient that can be used for treatment.
Another innovation is “Chemical Wine” – a smart nanostructure that releases anti-cancer drugs only when detecting specific signals within cancer cells. This target approach can reduce side effects while making the treatment more effective.
Going forward, scientists plan to use artificial intelligence to help design these complex nanomedicines. “When looking at structures, there are sometimes thousands of possibilities to arrange components in nanomedical form,” explains Dr. Milkin. “With AI, we can narrow down huge undeveloped structures to a few for synthesis and testing in the lab.”
For young people interested in science and medicine, the study represents an exciting frontier, where chemistry, biology and computer science have jointly created what was once impossible life-saving treatments.
As Dr. Natalie Artzi of Mass Brigham described, these advanced nanomedicines can achieve “highly local and timely drug releases, which changes the role and where the therapy works in the body.”
Through continuous research and development, these precise nanomedicines could one day help not only treat cancer, but also treat infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and autoimmune diseases, with promise for millions of patients around the world.
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