Wearable Patch for Skin CancerÂ
Due to the aggressive and recurrent nature of melanoma cells, patients suffer from the toxicity and side effects of repeated conventional melanoma therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Though there are less invasive topical chemotherapies as alternatives, the rapidly dissolving behavior of polymers used in the treatments and the painful size of the microneedles have hindered their widespread use.
To help address the issues and provide an improved treatment experience for people with melanoma, a novel wearable patch has been created by the Purdue University innovators.
A Purdue assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, Chi Hwan Lee said, “For the management of skin cancers, we have developed a novel wearable patch with fully miniaturized needles, enabling unobtrusive drug delivery through the skin. It is designed in a unique way: the patch substrate is dissolved within one minute after the introduction of needles into the skin as this patch is fully dissolvable by body fluids in a programmable manner, followed by the gradual dissolution of the silicon needles inside the tissues within several months. Sustainable and long-lasting delivery of cancer therapeutics is enabled by this gradual slow dissolution of the silicon nanoneedles.”
Lee said, “Long-lasting silicon nanoneedles that are extremely small having sharpened angular tips that make their penetration into the skin easy and in a painless and minimally invasive manner, were used, which is the uniqueness of our technology.”
A new design of bioresorbable silicon nanoneedles that are built on a flexible, thin, and water-soluble medical film was developed by the Purdue innovators. A temporary holder that can be conformably interfaced with the soft, curvilinear surface of the skin during the insertion of the nanoneedles is provided by the water-soluble film, after which just within a minute, rapid, complete dissolution occurs.
Lee said that a large drug loading capacity comparable to those using conventional microneedles is provided by the surface of the nanoneedles that are configured with nanoscale pores. In a sustainable manner, the chemotherapeutic drugs could be delivered to target melanoma sites by the nanoneedles. The silicon nanoneedles can be completely resorbed in the body over months in a harmless manner as they are biocompatible and dissolvable in tissue fluids.
Published in the ACS Nano journal.
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Wearable Patch for Skin CancerÂ
