A target-specific nanoparticle gelatin-based drug delivery system for clot-busting treatment has been showcased at the Scientific Sessions 2011 of the American Heart Association.
The novel drug delivery system has busted more blood clots when compared to existing drug systems during an animal study for acute coronary syndrome. It uses gelatin to disable the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome. tPA is then reactivated using sound waves subsequent to its contact with the blood clot. It is defined as a stealth method, as tPA is deactivated until it reaches the blood clot.
Patients suffering from chest pain can be treated with this innovative drug delivery system in ambulance on their way to the hospital. Usually, tPA is delivered via an arm vein using an injection or introduced into the groin using a catheter and directed into the blocked vessel. Thrombolysis, a prompt clot-busting therapy, reinstates the flow of the blood to the heart, thus preventing death.
The body normally generates tPA that inhibits the involvement of some proteins in the blood clotting process, resulting in the prevention of blood clots. During the study on blood clots in animals, gelatin bonded with these proteins, especially the von Willebrand factor reacted to tPA bonded with gelatin, but did not respond to isolated tPA. In the study, the researchers used radioactive tPA to track the drug and discovered three folds more nanoparticle tPA when compared to normal isolated tPA. Half an hour after delivering drugs in various animal models, blood flow was reinstated 10% with isolated tPA, 40% with ultrasound and tPA, and 90% with tPA /nanoparticle drug delivery system and ultrasound.
Source: http://www.americanheart.org