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Delivering mRNA Therapeutics to the Pancreas

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are one step closer to unlocking the potential of gene therapeutics to treat incurable pancreatic diseases, as they’ve created technology that delivers to a very important organ. The team’s aim is to improve delivery systems by changing the chemistry of the nanoparticles to reroute them in the body. Watch this video to learn how this research may lead to new treatments for type 1 diabetes and certain types of pancreatic cancer.

"This unexpected delivery to the islets would enable treatments for several very serious conditions, including Type 1 diabetes and a type of pancreatic cancer that originates within these islets," said Kathryn Whitehead  , a professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

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    Transcript

    00:00:12 This research matters because it is hopefully going to enable the treatment of all sorts of what are called intractable diseases. These are diseases for which there's currently no therapy whatsoever, just symptom management, or diseases where there are therapies but they're not particularly satisfying, or they cause too many patient side effects. So, messenger RNA, it works through a completely different mechanism than a lot of other drugs that are out there. And so, we now have the potential to come in and offer this alternative. So, as we figure out how to design the chemistry of these particles to go to these new places, we're really looking forward to partnering with clinicians and others involved in patient

    00:01:00 care to better understand how these delivery systems, which are going specifically into a pancreatic cell type called beta cells. The question then is, what can we do in those beta cells to help patients? So, for example, there are several types of pancreatic disease that are quite problematic and in need of new types of therapy. So, one is type 1 diabetes. And so, would this particle then be able to come in and affect the cells that are there to help the pancreas produce more insulin? One other potential application is the treatment of certain types of pancreatic cancer. And, so this technology might be a good way of approaching pancreatic cancer from a different angle.