Ionic drug transport in charged biosponge polymers to reduce chemotherapy toxicities

Cancer is becoming the leading cause of death in most developed nations. Despite efforts to develop targeted and personalized cancer therapeutics, dosing of the cancer chemotherapeutics is limited by toxic side effects. Typically, more than 50-90% of the injected drug is not trapped in the target organ and bypasses the tumor to general circulation, causing toxicities in distant locations. Currently we do not have any routes to remove these untrapped toxic chemotherapy drugs other than relying on the body’s natural metabolism.

In the context of reducing the toxicity of chemotherapy, we have designed charged biosponge adsorbers for capturing ionic chemotherapy drugs before they spread through the body. Doxorubicin, a widely used chemotherapy drug with significant toxic side effects, is a model drug. The charge concentration and water uptake in the biosponge adsorbers are systematically changed to achieve high binding capacity and fast kinetics. We aim to understand the mechanism of ionic drug transport in these biosponge adsorbers and establish the design principles for highly selective polymers in the presence of competing species in blood. Using a swine model, our initial design enables the capture of 69 % of the administered drug without any adverse effects. The proposed approach may help patients fight cancer.