In Situ Production and Continuous Delivery of Therapeutics by 3D-Printed Engineered Living Materials
Abstract
Intestinal disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis), irritable bowel syndrome, and colorectal cancer are significant public health concerns that affect millions of Americans each year. Orally administered drugs can be introduced into systemic circulation that can lead to challenges with achieving the therapeutic dose required at the disease site for treatment, as well as side effects associated with the drug. For this reason, implantable drug delivery devices for site-specific delivery (including stents, patches, microneedle devices, etc.) are highly desirable. These devices can be placed directly to affected sites to locally precisely deliver therapeutics. However, traditional polymeric-based drug delivery devices are limited by physical drug loading capacity—as high as 50% by weight for some polymeric systems—which substantially limits the lifetime of these systems. Moreover, many implantable drug delivery devices are not degradable, and must be removed or replaced. Thus, there is a need for drug delivery devices that not only have precise form factors (e.g., for patient-specific stents) but also have the ability to provide continuous and consistent drug delivery for indefinite periods of time. The goal of this research is to produce the first 3D printed biodegradable drug delivery device that uses a genetically altered probiotic bacteria (E. coli Nissle 1917) to continuously produce the therapeutic. The advantages of this approach include continuous localized drug delivery for an indefinite period of time, 3D printed devices that can biodegrade over a predetermined time period, and the ability to program the probiotic bacteria to produce a broad spectrum of drugs that include anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents. Therefore, the proposed technology will address challenges in sustained release drug delivery for the treatment of intestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2110167
Entities
People
- Alshakim Nelson
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Washington