Work done in the lab of Dr. Rajendra at the School of Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad is working as an Assistant Professor at the School of Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India. He did his postdoctoral trainings from Tufts University, Medford, Boston, MA, USA, NOVA Medical School, Lisboa, Portugal and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel and IIT Bombay, India in the area of Cancer NanoMedicine and targetable cancer theranostics. Dr. Rajendra has contributed for more than (a) 30 research articles published in top tier journals such as Adv. Funct. Mater. (Wiley), Nano Letters (ACS), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Nanoscale (RSC), Bioconjugate Chemistry (ACS), Communications Biology (Nature Publication), Journal of Controlled Release (Elsevier), etc., (b) 10 granted/or published patents nationally and internationally, (c) 7 trademarks and 5 journal cover art images, (d) 4 book chapters and 2 Edited Books. He is also an editorial board member at prestigious journals like Nanotheranostics, npj Imaging and Chemical & Biomedical Imaging.
Cancer Cells derived Biomimetic NanoBiosome as Targeted Theranostics
Author Interview
Tiny medicines for safe impact in health care
Biomimetic NanoBiosome, developed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, is an innovative technology that enables the targeted theranostics for solid tumors. Cancer cells are utilized to make NanoBiosome. First, all interior components including cell organelles are removed from cancer cells, followed by a biochemical process. Second, these ghost cells are cut down to nanoscale and then integrated with diagnostics and therapeutics agents. The laboratory designed nanoscale theranostics systems are like a “magic bullet” in hands for targeted imaging and therapeutics of solid tumors in combination. The ghost cavity of these biosomes can be loaded with various/or multiple imaging and therapeutics probes. In his recent research (Rajendra Prasad, et al., Journal of Controlled Release, 2024, 367, 300-315; doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2024.01.056), he and his collaborative team have demonstrated a unique approach for solid tumor theranostics and metastasis monitoring in pre-clinical tumor models. The developed innovative theranostics system offers solutions for selective targeting of cancerous cells and killing them efficiently without damaging surrounding healthy tissues. The engineered nanotheranostics medicines are significantly effective for early-stage diagnosis and treatment of tumors even at minimum dose and time. So, basically, the cancer cells are engineered and integrated with theranostics agents in the laboratory and then injected back to the tumor models. The injected delivery systems reach the solid tumor via blood circulation and make their entry through the gap in blood vessels within the solid tumor and release their loaded cargo on the localized site.
How do you see biomimetic medicines in translational research?
Dr. Rajendra is a young faculty and dynamic researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, who has conceptualized the idea of utilizing cancer cells for solid tumor theranostics and their interventions. He has been working in the area of cancer nanomedicine and understanding their solid tumor entry-exit route. To the best of Rajendra’s knowledge, most of the chemically designed nanoparticles are taken up by the immune system which is trained to excrete and quickly clear these foreign particles from the body. Further, he has mentioned that these chemically designed nanoparticles face various cellular and tissular barriers exhibiting low accumulation efficiency viz., less than 1 % (median) as reported in the literature. He has extended his discussion saying that functionalizing nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a well-established approach which prevents opsonization during blood circulation. Hence, PEGylated nanoparticles are easily able to escape the uptake by phagocytic cells due to steric hindrance on the nanoparticle’s surface which hamper the opsonin adsorption. However, there are some immune-compatibility concerns of PEG. To overcome such issues, cell membrane coating concept has been proposed but this is limited with low cargo capacity and reproducibility. In his research, he has discussed the importance of cancer cells where cancer cells are inactive (they cannot grow and multiply now) when they are without their organelles. The inactive empty cells can easily evade the body’s immune system when they are within the nanoscale, but integrating these biochemically treated tiny empty cancer cells with imaging and therapeutic agents is a bit tricky, he explains. Overall, inherent membrane biomarkers and biomimetic abilities help these tiny theranostics systems evade immune cells and reach them to the target site without damaging surrounding healthy ones. Based on FDA approved nanomedicines, Rajendra believes that such biomimetic medicine also has clinical relevance and acceptance if scalability and reproducibility are resolved.
“Biomimetic NanoBiosome, developed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, is an innovative technology that enables the targeted theranostics for solid tumors.”
What was the exciting moment during your research?
One day, while doing whole body scans for solid tumor imaging (primary breast tumor site), I saw that fluorescence “due to injected biomimetic nanoparticles” was also glowing from lung and liver area indicating the spread of cancer known as metastasis. Examining multiple sites of cancer by a single medicine was an exciting moment. Successfully treating the metastasis along with the primary tumor site by the same dose was another exciting moment though it was tough.
Where do you seek scientific inspiration from?
I would say theranostics research, that would be next in human practice/or use, where I can explore molecular imaging, therapy and nanoscale design. Second, a thoughtful curiosity about the entry-exit mechanism of nanomedicine in/from solid tumors. Every day, I enjoy reading papers and reviewing articles published by the top-tier journals around the world in these two areas. I regularly discuss with my research and collaborative team about theranostics and nanomedicine progress, and get inspiration to develop affordable technologies for early-stage diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
How do you intend to help Indian science improve?
Indian science is already well established and many technologies are in our hands now. I think we can still focus on many more cutting-edge technologies which are easily possible in western world. In my opinion, vast expertise and collaborative mode could strengthen Indian science for translational research.
Reference: Prasad, R., Peng, B., Mendes, B.B., Kilian, H.I., Gorain, M., Zhang, H., Kundu, G.C., Xia, J., Lovell, J.F. and Conde, J., Biomimetic bright optotheranostics for metastasis monitoring and multimodal image-guided breast cancer therapeutics. Journal of controlled release: official journal of the Controlled Release Society, 367, pp.300-315.