WHAT ARE NANOSPONGES

NANO SIZED PARTICLES DESIGNED TO LOOK LIKE RED

BLOOD CELLS, MADE FROM CARBON-CONTAINING
POLYMERS, THAT COULD SLIP THROUGH BLOOD
VESSELS WITHOUT TRIGGERING AN IMMUNE REACTION.
• NANOSPONGES COULD BE USED FOR A DRUG-DELIVERY
SYSTEM BUT INSTEAD, THEY DECIDED TO TURN IT INTO A
“SPONGE” AND TRAP TOXINS, AND VENOMS TO BE REMOVED
RESEARCH
FROM THE BLOOD.
• MOST NOTABLE HIV (CD4 T CELL), ZIKA, E. COLI
DISCOVERY
TRICKING THE IMMUNE
Zhang’s Team coated the Sponges with
After injecting into mice the Sponges
the membrane of red blood cells from
stayed intact for 3 days
dead mouses.

Tasciotti’s reported that the

At the same time in Texas Tasciotti’s
leukosomes Could relive
team created a similar sponge but
inflammation and help repair
made from a synthetic particles
damaged tissue in the
coated in various white cells
gastrointestinal tract of mice that had
membrane’s called leukosomes.
a form of inflammatory bowel disease.
TOXIC TRAP
• IN 2011, AS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE WAS GAINING
RECOGNITION AS A SERIOUS PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT,
PORE-FORMING TOXINS. THESE SMALL PROTEINS ARE
RELEASED BY MANY PATHOGENS, INCLUDING MRSA, THE
STRAIN OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS THAT RESISTS
MOST ANTIBIOTICS. IT PUNCTURES AND KILLS RED
BLOOD CELLS
• RESEARCHERS STARTED DEVELOPING VARIOUS
ANTIBIOTIC’S FOR ONE TYPE OF TOXIN. ZHANG’S AND HIS
TEAM THOUGHT WHY NOT DEVELOP ANTIBIOTICS THAT
THAT ATTACK MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF TOXIN.
TOXIC TRAP CONT.

Zhang and his team were If a toxin attack the

later able to have the sponges instead of the red
Sponges be able to trap blood cells it would get
more than one toxin within stuck and carried to be
the man made blood cell. broken down by the liver.
DIVERSION
FUTURE PLANS
in 2013 Zhang and colleagues have since
expanded their collection of
nanosponges to include particles
covered in membranes from three types
of white blood cells: macrophages,
neutrophils and T cells.
In a 2017, macrophage coated particles
trapped and rendered powerless some of
the molecules that drive inflammation
leading to sepsis, an uncontrolled
response to infection that kills about 6
million people worldwide each year.
In september 2018 the team
reported that neutrophil Nanosponge
sop up toxins that cause rheumatoid
arthritis in mice.
In late 2018, in lab dish experiments
reported in November, nanoponges
coated with t cells diverted HIV from
actual T cells, the cells this virus
typically attacks, eventually causing
AIDS.
DRUG DELIVERY

a delivery system based on nanosponge is three to five times more effective at reducing cancer tumor growth than direct
injection.

“To visualize Harth’s delivery system, imagine making tiny sponges that are about the size of a virus, filling them with a drug
and attaching special chemical”linkers” that bond preferentially to a feature found only on the surface of tumor cells, and
then injecting them into the body. The tiny sponges circulate around the body until they encounter the surface of a tumor cell,
where they stick on the surface (or are sucked into the cell) and begin releasing their potent cargo in a controllable and
predictable fashion.”
ADVANTAGES
THE DRUG IS RELEASED AT THE TUMOR
INSTEAD OF CIRCULATING WIDELY
THROUGH THE BODY, IT SHOULD BE
MORE EFFECTIVE FOR A GIVEN DOSAGE.
IT SHOULD ALSO HAVE FEWER
HARMFUL SIDE EFFECTS BECAUSE
SMALLER AMOUNTS OF THE DRUG
COME INTO CONTACT WITH HEALTHY
TISSUE.
MANY OTHER SYSTEMS UNLOAD MOST
OF THEIR DRUG IN A RAPID AND
UNCONTROLLABLE FASHION. CALLED
THE BURST EFFECT AND MAKES IT
DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE EFFECTIVE
DOSAGE LEVELS.
THE NANOSPONGE PARTICLES ARE
SOLUBLE IN WATER. NANOSPONGE
ALLOWS THE USE OF HYDROPHOBIC
DRUGS THAT DO NOT DISSOLVE
READILY IN WATER. CURRENTLY, THESE
DRUGS MUST BE MIXED WITH
ANOTHER CHEMICAL, CALLED AN
ADJUVANT REAGENT, THAT REDUCES
THE EFFICACY OF THE DRUG AND CAN
HAVE ADVERSE SIDE- EFFECTS.
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=76TLG_8XZT0
SOURCE
• LANDHUIS, ESTHER. “NANOSPONGES SOP UP TOXINS AND HELP REPAIR TISSUES.” SCIENCE NEWS, 7 MAR.
2019, WWW.SCIENCENEWS.ORG/ARTICLE/NANOSPONGES-TOXINS-BLOOD-CELL-MEMBRANE-DRUG-
DELIVERY.
• SALISBURY, DAVID. “NANOSPONGE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM MORE EFFECTIVE THAN DIRECT
INJECTION.” VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, 1 JUNE 1970,
NEWS.VANDERBILT.EDU/2010/06/01/NANOSPONGE-DRUG-DELIVERY-SYSTEM-MORE-EFFECTIVE-THAN-
DIRECT-INJECTION-116839/.