Hybrid organic/inorganic nanogels as a scalable theranostic platform – Kitostic

The use of nanomedicine has led to significant success in drug targeting to specific diseased tissues and cells. Several impediments of nanocarriers still limit a wider use of nanomedecine: low drug loading and uncontrolled release, poor versatility and scalability, difficulty to include imaging contrast agents to achieve ‘theranostic’ properties. These challenges are particularly acute for the delivery of nucleotides and their analogues, despite their high and widespread pharmacological activities. We aim at designing a novel drug delivery platform tailored to these hydrophilic drugs, displaying contrast agent properties and scalability potential. This platform consists in organic/inorganic nanogels based on chitosan coupled to metal (Fe, Zn, Gd) or metal complexes. Such nanogels will be investigated for their potential to deliver nucleotides and their analogues to target cells and tissues, and enhance contrast in magnetic resonance imaging. The potential of this theranostic platform to be scaled-up will also be investigated.