Purdue researchers develop novel patch to treat melanoma
Researchers at Purdue University have created a a novel wearable patch to treat melanoma.
Conventional melanoma therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, suffer from the toxicity and side effects of repeated treatments due to the aggressive and recurrent nature of melanoma cells. Less invasive topical chemo-therapies have emerged as alternatives, but their widespread uses have been hindered by both the painful size of the microneedles and the rapidly dissolving behaviour of polymers used in the treatments. The new patch overcomes these issues.
Chi Hwan Lee, a Purdue assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, explains: “We developed a novel wearable patch with fully miniaturized needles, enabling unobtrusive drug delivery through the skin for the management of skin cancers .Uniquely, this patch is fully dissolvable by body fluids in a programmable manner such that the patch substrate is dissolved within one minute after the introduction of needles into the skin, followed by gradual dissolution of the silicon needles inside the tissues within several months.”
This gradual slow dissolution of the silicon nanoneedles allows for long-lasting and sustainable delivery of cancer therapeutics. The bioresorbable silicon nanoneedles are built on a thin, flexible and water-soluble medical film. The film serves as a temporary holder that can be conformably interfaced with the soft, curvilinear surface of the skin during the insertion of the nanoneedles, followed by rapid, complete dissolution within a minute.
The surface of the nanoneedles is configured with nanoscale pores and provides a large drug loading capacity comparable to those using conventional microneedles.
The researchers are looking for partners to continue developing their technology. For more information, email: Chi Hwan Lee, lee2270@purdue.edu
Their research is published in ACS Nano. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.0c02343
