In our ever-growing modern world, we are seeing the rise in technology everywhere. This can be seen through our phones, homes, restaurants, and even the workforce. This is exactly the case for the medical field; technology is slowly being integrated to help and diagnose patients. Most recently, there has been a rise in nanoparticles in genetic therapy. Through research, scientists and doctors are hoping that this can transform the treatment of certain diseases and transplants.
Nanoparticles, by definition, are small particles that range between 1 to 100 nanometres in size. Because they are so small, they have a very large surface area to volume ratio which allows them to have unforeseen optical, physical, and chemical properties. They are small enough to confine their electrons and produce quantum effects. Usually, nanoparticles are byproducts from combustion reactions, but they can also be produced through engineering to perform a specific task. Because of its ability to make materials in a certain way to perform specific roles. This technology is very versatile as it is used not only in the healthcare area, but in many industries such as cosmetics, environmental preservation, and air purification.
However, at MIT, engineers have developed a special nanoparticle that has been able to turn off or block specific gene cells in the bone marrow which greatly affects the production of blood cells. Usually, these nanoparticles would not be able to target certain organs, but instead, they would accumulate in the liver. Even though it has been proven useful to treat liver disease, one of the lead authors of this specific study, Michael Mitchell, wanted to expand the use of this technology; he wanted to be able to treat more than just the liver.
Not only has Mitchell contributed to this research, but countless others including Marvin Krohn Grimbergh (a cardiologist from Germany), Maximilian Schloss (researcher from MGH), Daniel Anderson (a professor at MIT), and Matthias Nahrendorf (a professor at MGH). These researchers have been able to achieve just that; they have been able to alter the particles so they, instead of accumulating in the liver, would accumulate in the cells that lie within the bone marrow. Michael Mitchell mentions, “If we can get these particles to hit other organs of interest, there could be a broader range of disease applications to explore, and one that we were really interested in in this paper was the bone marrow”.
Their goal with this new finding is to be able to treat patients that are struggling with heart disease or be able to augment the production of stem cells for those who need stem cell transplants. Through a study on mice, they used this to test out the recovery after a heart attack by inhibiting the release of bone marrow blood cells that promote inflation to the heart.“The bone marrow is a site for hematopoiesis of blood cells, and these give rise to a whole lineage of cells that contribute to various types of diseases”, says Mitchell. In humans, the gene they would be targeting would be the MCP1 molecule; this molecule is released by the bone marrow and travels to the heart to promote inflation. When they tested it on mice, it proved to be successful, Mice that received this treatment also showed improved healing of heart tissue following a heart attack. The way they would be using nanoparticles would be through RNA interference. RNA interference is a gene therapy process in which short strands of RNA are delivered in order to block certain genes from being activated in a cell by neutralizing targeted mRNA molecules.
With all of his findings from this study, Mitchell is hoping to find more ways to be able to treat heart attacks. “We now know that immune cells play such a key role in the progression of heart attack and heart failure. If we could develop therapeutic strategies to stop immune cells that originate from bone marrow from getting into the heart, it could be a new means of treating a heart attack”, Mitchell states. Currently, he is continuing his research and is working on more nanotechnologies that target bone marrow and immune cells. He is hoping to treat more diseases, especially blood cancer. Before, it was thought that the liver was all these nanoparticles could treat, but now through more research, we know that we have only scratched the surface on their capabilities in the healthcare industry.
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