BHUBANESWAR: Critically ill patients, especially those suffering from cancer, can now expect reduced duration of treatment and extended life span. A group of bio-technologists from Odisha has developed a unique drug delivery mechanism which will help carry drugs to the targeted cells without damaging the others. Their research paper titled ‘Cyclic peptide-based nanostructures as efficient siRNA carriers’ has been published in the recent edition of UK-based international journal ‘Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology’.
Bijayananda Panigrahi, an author of the paper, said though RNA interference shows a great strategy for biological studies, delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) remains a challenge. “Several delivery vehicles, including cell-penetrating peptides, have already been developed. But their implementation is often restricted because of their endosomal entrapment. We have developed self-assembled nanostructures from rationally designed cyclic peptides, which make efficient delivery of functional biomacro-molecules such as siRNA into mammalian cells,” he said.
Peptides are fundamental components of cells that carry out important biological functions. The researchers claimed that the newly obtained soft materials make stable complexes with siRNAs, thereby increasing their stability. Targeted drug delivery mechanism is an advanced method of delivering drugs in targeted sequences that increase the concentration of drug to the targeted tissues or cells. The inherent advantage of the technique leads to administration of required drug with its reduced dose and less or zero side effect.
“Since there was no suitable delivery system for siRNA, we managed to design non-viral and non-toxic peptide-based vector to address the issue after a long research. For the purpose, few cyclic peptides were designed and synthesised to achieve self-assembled nano structures,” Panigrahy said.
The outcome of the research has been satisfactory as the peptide nanostructure-mediated delivery of very low concentration of siRNA caused significant knockdown of the target gene. The study indicated that selective peptides formed strong complex with siRNA.
The researchers, comprising Rohit Kumar Singh, Sourav Mishra and Dindyal Mandal of KIIT University’s School of Biotechnology, believe that the smart drug delivery system can be miraculous in delivering drugs to a patient’s cell and reducing the treatment duration.