Spring/Summer 2011 - Purdue College of Pharmacy - Purdue ...

Update on the
Lilly Endowment, Inc. Grant
“A Plan for Preeminence for Purdue Pharmacy”
The Lilly Endowment grant to
the College of Pharmacy has
impacted the learning, discovery
and engagement activities of the
College. The grant, which was
first announced in the Spring
2007 edition of The Purdue
Pharmacist, supports a series of
initiatives focusing on medication
safety, cancer therapeutics and
pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Over the next several issues, we
will highlight some of the activities
that are being supported by
the grant. Among the activities
supported are seed grants to
initiate new research projects in
the three focus areas. The intent
of these seed grants is to support
exploratory studies that will
demonstrate proof of concept
and allow faculty members
to generate data needed to
be successful in obtaining
long-term grant funding for
the project. One such project
is being conducted by Dr. Yoon
Yeo to develop biocompatible
nanocarriers to deliver
anticancer drugs.
In developing safe and effective chemotherapy, it is crucial to create targeted
drug delivery systems that can selectively deliver anticancer drugs to tumor
cells without harming normal cells. Using a ‘trojan horse’ approach, we are
developing nanocarrier systems in which the active drug does not ‘escape’
until the delivery system is inside or adjacent to tumor cells. This can be
accomplished by taking advantage of biological differences between
normal and cancer cells. These differences include the more acidic pH
and abundance of specific enzymes in tumor tissues.
With this goal in mind, we have developed a new biocompatible chitosan
derivative (a compound found in crustaceans) that can serve as a shield for
the surface of nanocarriers. This shield prevents random interaction with
normal tissues as it circulates in the blood. Once the carrier arrives at tumor
cells, whose pH is slightly lower than normal cells, the chitosan derivative
coating will assume positive charges and allow the carriers to interact with
tumor cells and deliver anticancer therapeutics.
Another approach we are employing is to develop a nanocarrier system
with a coating that can be shed by the presence of enzymes in tumors.
This approach is specifically designed to reduce toxicity of anticancer
drugs to normal tissues and organs, which currently limit effective dosing.
Importantly, these drug-carrier systems can be used to deliver a variety
of anticancer drugs to increase the safety of current chemotherapy.
Through this and related projects, our faculty are working to develop safer,
more effective medications. You may read more about Dr. Yeo and her
research on page 32.
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The Purdue Pharmacist