Nano-Ghosts: Biomimetic Membranal Vesicles, Technology and Characterization

Publication date: Available online 30 November 2019Source: MethodsAuthor(s): Jacopo Oieni, Lior Levy, Nitzan Letko Khait, Liat Yosef, Beth Schoen, Miguel Fliman, Hagit Shalom-Luxenburg, Natali Malkah Dayan, Domenico D'Atri, Noa Cohen Anavy, Marcelle MachlufAbstractCurrently, nano-carriers for anti-cancer drug delivery are complex systems, which struggle with immunogenicity and enhanced permeability effect (EPR)-related problems that halt the clinical translation of many therapeutics. Consequently, a rapidly growing field of research has been focusing on biomimetic nano-vesicles (BNVs) as an effective delivery alternative. Nevertheless, the translation of many BNVs is limited due to scalability problems, inconsistent production process, and insufficient loading efficiency. Here we discuss the process of our previously published BNVs, termed Nano-Ghosts (NGs), which are produced from the membrane of mesenchymal stem cells. We demonstrate the flexibility of the process, while alternating physical methodologies (sonication or extrusion) to produce the NGs while preserving their desired characteristics. We also show that our NGs can be labeled using multiple methods (fluorescence, radiolabeling, and genetic engineering) for tracking and diagnostic purposes. Lastly, we demonstrate that the loading efficiency can be improved by using electroporation to accommodate a range of therapeutics (small molecules, peptides and DNA) that can be delivered by the NGs. Our results emphasize the ...
Source: Methods - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research