Abstract
A major challenge in develo** potential treatments for pregnancy complications is minimizing adverse effects to the fetus and mother. Placenta-targeted drug delivery could reduce the risks of drug treatments in pregnancy by targeting tissue where most pregnancy complications originate and decreasing dosages. We previously developed a tool for the targeted delivery of drug-carrying nanoparticles to the placenta using a synthetic placental chondroitin sulfate A-binding peptide (plCSA-BP) derived from the malarial protein VAR2CSA, which binds a distinct type of chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) exclusively expressed by placental trophoblasts. Liposomes are a type of nanoparticle already approved for use in humans by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and used successfully for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. Here, we present a detailed method to create plCSA-BP-decorated liposomes that can be used to deliver drugs specifically to placental trophoblasts. Liposomes are first generated by the standard film method and then conjugated to plCSA-BPs using the 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride/N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide (EDC/NHS) bioconjugate technique. This protocol may facilitate bench-to-bedside translation of drug discovery for the treatment of pregnancy disorders by reducing risks of side effects, and enabling rapid and scalable production.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82302374), March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and the Preeclampsia Foundation to NRN at Stanford University and WSU. NRN is supported by the NICHD grant #R01HD088549 at WSU and UMKC (the content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institutes of Health).
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Zhang, B., Fan, X., Nayak, N.R. (2024). Trophoblast-Targeted Liposomes for Placenta-Specific Drug Delivery. In: Raha, S. (eds) Trophoblasts. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2728. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3495-0_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3495-0_15
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