Poster abstracts

Poster number 57 submitted by Mohammed Hassan

RNA nanoparticles for enhancement of ocular drug delivery

Mohammed Hassan (Chemistry Department / University of Cincinnati), Kevin Li (College of Pharmacy / University of Cincinnati), Patrick Limbach (Chemistry Department / University of Cincinnati)

Abstract:
Effective ocular drug delivery for treatment chronic posterior eye diseases remains a challenging task. These treatments need frequent intravitreal injections and involve high healthcare cost, and repeated ocular perforation can lead to adverse effects such as intraocular bleeding, infection, and retinal detachment. Thus, a more effective drug delivery system to the posterior segment of the eye is desirable. RNA nanoparticles, with defined size and shape, could be used as vectors for enhancement of delivery for RNA-based therapeutics. Moreover, they can be fabricated to allow simultaneous targeting and/or delivery of multiple therapeutic and targeting ligands. Consequently, this could be used to achieve synergistic effects for drug delivery and therapy. This project employed high resolution imaging to explore the cell penetration ability and distribution of the RNA nanoparticles in the eye. Furthermore, in situ hybridization was performed to obtain semi-quantitative data on the cellular uptake of the RNA nanoparticles. Our results show poor internalization within the corneal epithelium and good uptake by retina. This could elaborate that the lack of possibility to use the RNA nanoparticles as a vector for extraocular administered medications “eye drops” that utilize the trans-corneal pathway. Alternatively, RNA nanoparticles could be promising delivery system using the transscleral pathway.

References:
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Keywords: RNA nanoparticles, ocular delivery, retina