Cells can profoundly transform and recycle man-made nanomaterials, to which they had been exposed. To communicate, or in response to exogenous stress, cells generate extracellular vesicles (EVs) which can play crucial roles in multiple physiological processes, including cancer progression. The goal of the NanoBioMade project is to combine both biological processes to deliver cell-made nanomedicines. First, it aims at developping novel strategies to induce bioinorganic intracellular synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs). This should demonstrate that i) NP degradation products can be de novosynthesized NPs and ii) NPs can also be obtained when cells are “fed” with soluble ionic salts. Using living cells as bioreactors may create functional, complex and organism-friendly NPs. NPs with magnetic and photothermal properties will be generated from ion salts precursors.
The second goal is devoted to the biological encapsulation of NPs. For clinical applications, NPs must be efficiently delivered to the target site. The best delivery system is the cell’s innate one, the EVs. Here, groundbreaking physically inspired (hydrodynamic, light) approaches will be proposed and implemented to produce and load EVs with NPs. One specific aim will be to scale-up the production and loading.
The last objective is to exploit biosynthesized NPs and their bio-camouflage within EVs as photothermal agents, used in thermal treatments of cancer. A panel of magnetic nanomaterials, nano-bio-hybrids, vesicles, combination of vesicles and liposomes, will be magnetically or chemotactically delivered to (hetero- and orthotopic) murine tumours, where their action would be triggered by light stimuli to treat cancer.
This project merges works in thermal nano-therapy, EV nano-engineering, and NPs bio-transformations into a new chemical bioinorganic approach with a concrete medical goal and pre-clinical exploration.
