FABRICATION OF MICRO-/NANOPARTICULATE CARRIERS FOR DUAL-AGENT (DRUG AND GENE) CANCER THERAPY

Abstract

AS CANCER TAKES ITS TOLL ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, STANDARD TREATMENT TECHNIQUES SUCH AS CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIOTHERAPY OFTEN FALL SHORT OF IDEAL SOLUTIONS. IN PARTICULAR, ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS AND COLLATERAL DAMAGES ON HEALTHY TISSUES CONTINUE TO POSE CHALLENGES IN CANCER TREATMENT. IN THIS THESIS, COAXIAL ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC ATOMIZATION TECHNIQUE WAS USED TO FABRICATE UNIFORM CORE-SHELL MICROPARTICLES WHICH COULD PRECISELY CONTROL THE RELEASE OF SMALL MOLECULE DRUGS IN A PARALLEL OR SEQUENTIAL MANNER FOR CANCER THERAPY. MICROPARTICLES WERE ALSO EMPLOYED FOR THE CO-ENCAPSULATION OF DOXORUBICIN AND P53-DNA-NANOPARTICLES, WHERE THE AGENTS WERE RELEASED IN A SUSTAINED AND CONTROLLED MANNER AT A TARGET SITE OVER 50 DAYS. WE ALSO DEVELOPED A MICROPARTICLES-EMBEDDED HYDROGEL SYSTEM FOR LOCALIZED DRUG DELIVERY TO 3-D TUMOR SPHEROIDS IN-VITRO. FINALLY, WE SYNTHESIZED A NOVEL REDOX-SENSITIVE NANOCARRIER AND UTILIZED IT FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS AND ON-DEMAND CO-DELIVERY OF DRUG AND GENE MOLECUL