Drug Delivery and Translational Research - Featured Article: June 2022

Read the featured article from the June 2022 issue! (this opens in a new tab)

Summary: The goal of the current research was to develop an ImM (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) containing nanoformulation and to determine if kidney delivery could be improved over traditional ImM in order to potentially treat nephritis secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLEN).  The glomerulus is the location within the kidney targeted in SLEN.  A fish oil–based ImM oil-in-water nanoemulsion was developed and characterized for particle size, zeta potential, pH, and stability.  MRL/MpJ-Faslpr (a mouse model of SLEN) and control mice (MRL-MpJ) were employed.  The nanoemulsion characteristics were favorable for renal deposition (60-80 nm size, zeta potential of −6.6 to −7.8 mV, polydispersity index < 0.3, 3-day stability at 4 °C) and demonstrated limited leakage.  Kidney deposition of ImM was found to be threefold higher in mice that received the nanoformulation versus naked formulation. Future strategies will define dose-efficacy and dose-toxicity relationships, and characterize and evaluate approaches to further enhance kidney deposition.

The Editorial Board of DDTR selected this article as the best paper of this issue.