The Lung Cell Biology group at the Imperial College London is performing a preliminary in vitro assessment of the nanoparticles behavior with the lungs cells, the first target that the nanoparticles encounter before translocating to the heart. In order to study the biocompatibility, a broad range of concentrations of nanoparticles have been applied to alveolar type 1 cells and analyzed after 24 hours, looking in particular for cell survival rates and a sign of inflammation. Overall, these preliminary studies indicate that the nanoparticles did not induce cell death when applied to the alveolar epithelial type 1-like model. Further studies are required to quantify particle uptake and to complete the bioreactivity studies in more physiological-like conditions that take into account the air exposure and blood flow dynamics. For this reason, the…

A new study, carried out by the group of Daniele Catalucci from the CNR-IRGB (Milan, Italy), one of the key partners of the EU-funded project CUPIDO, demonstrated that nanoparticle-encapsulated pharmacologically active peptides can be efficiently delivered to the heart via inhalation. These results, published in the journal “Science Translational Medicine”, represent the first proof-of-concept for an unconventional and pioneering approach exploiting inhalable nanoparticle properties to improve diseased cardiac conditions. As Michele Miragoli, first author of the paper explains: “Nanomedicine, meaning the application of nanotechnology to the health sector, represents a promising approach for near future health care. Indeed, several nanopharmaceuticals have been approved by the FDA since the late 90s’  leading to remarkable advantages especially in the cancer field. Curiously, only very few attempts have been made to apply nanomedicine…

The project has started and partners are working together to build a fruitful collaboration! This month several meetings have taken place to pull together partners located all around Europe. Plumestars (Parma, Italy), for example, has hosted partners from IRGB-CNR (Milan, Italy) and Nemera (La Verpillière, France) (see the picture), and a meeting with CNR-ISTEC (Faenza, Italy).