@article {19362, title = {Development of polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes as devices for theranostic and monitoring of specific diseases}, booktitle = {The POLARIS Conference}, year = {2015}, month = {2015-06-30 00:00:00}, address = {Guimar{\~a}es}, abstract = {

Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) and liposomes are being widely studied for pharmaceutical and medical applications. These carriers can be designed with specific characteristics adjustable to the desirable delivery kinetics of the therapeutic agent, their intended mode of action and the disease specificities. Furthermore, the lipidic and polymeric carriers can incorporate imaging agents, as gold NPs (AuNPs), providing them diagnosis and monitoring functionalities. The properties of AuNPs such as biocompatibility, high chemical stability and versatile conjugation with biomolecules, allied with the possible detection by e.g. computed tomographic imaging, make them a very useful tool to be used in medical applications.

Polymeric NPs and liposomes were developed for a theranostic nanomedicine strategy, with the ultimate goal to induce regeneration of tissues and to reduce the deleterious inflammation, as observed in autoimmune diseases, respectively. Polymeric particles were designed to immobilize a defined antibody that will allow for the selective binding of basic fibroblastic growth factor (bFGF). bFGF is a potent inductor of stem cells proliferation and differentiation, promoting the angiogenesis and the collagen production, essential steps for tissue healing. Liposomes were tailored to reduce the levels of inflammation by capturing pro-inflammatory cytokines, namely IL-23, via a blocking antibody. The developed nanocarriers showed spherical shape and that AuNPs were efficiently integrated into their structure. Their surface charge is either negative (liposomes) or positive (polymeric), having the required chemical groups to their biofunctionalization with monoclonal antibodies to target the previously defined biomolecules. Additionally, results obtained with a chondrocytic cell line (ATDC5) showed that the NPs did not present cytotoxicity for relevant NP concentrations, still allowing cells proliferation during up to three days.

Our strategy and the developed devices allow being tailored for the treatment of specific diseases, when efficiently functionalized for targeting specific tissues, cells or biomolecules.

}, keywords = {bFGF, IL-23, Liposomes, Polymeric nanoparticles}, author = {Ferreira, H. and Silva, M. L. A. and Martins, A. and Reis, R. L. and Neves, N. M.} }