CHARACTERIZATION OF ANTICANCER LECTINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF NANOGEL-BASED CARRIERS FOR THEIR TARGETED DELIVERY
Open Access
- Author:
- Lawanprasert, Atip
- Area of Honors:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Scott H Medina, Thesis Supervisor
Jian Yang, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Lectins
Targeted Delivery
Nanogel
Drug Delivery
Bioresponsive
Anticancer - Abstract:
- Glycans are covalently-linked carbohydrates displayed from the surface of mammalian cells, which play critical roles in a variety of cellular biological functions. Dysregulation of glycan processing in cells is also involved in many human diseases, including cancer. Thus, molecules that can distinguish mammalian and cancer-specific glycans represent new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. One such class of agents is lectins, which represent a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins that recognize glycans with high specificity. Importantly, many lectins are able to modulate the functions of cells following glycan binding and thus represent attractive new therapeutic candidates in oncology. In the first chapter of my thesis, I discuss our recent discovery of a new family of naturally-derived lectins and detail their application in anticancer therapy and diagnosis. Despite the therapeutic potential of these new agents, protein-based drugs face a number of challenges that limit their clinical utility, including rapid degradation and off-target toxicity. As a result, drug delivery devices that protect protein cargo during delivery, and selectively localize it to cancerous tissues are urgently needed. Towards this goal, in the second chapter of my thesis, I discuss the development of a new class of inhalable nanoparticle formed from the electrostatic cross-linking of FDA-approved biologic polymers: Poly(L-Lysine) (PLL) and hyaluronic acid (HA). Herein, we present recent work in the development and validation of these new nanoparticles for drug delivery applications, with a particular focus on protein delivery for lung cancer therapy.