Glomerulonephritis is a group of inflammatory diseases that damage the filters of the kidney, glomeruli. Glomerulonephritis requires aggressive immunosuppressive therapy, but unfortunately most current agents produce severe side effects. Therefore, development of new site-targeted strategies to minimize side effects while maintaining high local therapeutic efficiency could open a new avenue for more effective disease management.
Our researchers developed a novel nanoparticle delivery system, formed by coupling base PFC nanoparticles with a collagen IV targeting peptide, that selectively targets kidney glomeruli, specifically the glomerular basement membrane. This targeted nanoparticle delivery system can be loaded with different drug modalities (e.g. small molecules, antibodies, peptides, small RNAs, dsDNA etc). Experiments demonstrated that: 1) the collagen IV targeted PFC nanoparticles selectively bind to collagen IV coated surface as well as collagen IV in mesangial cells; 2) fluorescent signals are detected exclusively in glomeruli after i.v. injection of the collagen IV targeted PFC nanoparticles labeled with rhodamine; 3) loading of prednisone in the collagen IV targeted PFC nanoparticles is possible and quantifiable with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Representative Images of Kidneys from Mice Receiving the Collagen IV Targeted PFC Nanoparticles (Red: nanoparticles, Blue: nucleus)