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"Tiny devices containing cells engineered to continuously produce drugs could one day deliver medicines from inside the body without requiring patients to remember to administer doses.
Researchers have designed a device called hybrid oxygenation bioelectronics system for implanted therapy, or HOBIT, in a step towards realising this goal.
The system hides genetically-engineered cells from the immune system while producing its own oxygen and nutrients to keep the cells alive.
It contains a cell chamber to house the cells, an electrochemical device to generate oxygen by splitting water molecules and electronics and a battery to regulate oxygen production while wirelessly communicating with external devices.
In a proof-of-concept study the team engineered cells to produce an anti-HIV antibody, a GLP-1-like peptide used to treat type 2 diabetes and leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and metabolism. They implanted the devices under the skin of rats and monitored drug levels in the animals’ bloodstreams for 30 days.
Levels remained stable across the study period. About 65% of the cells were still viable by the end of the experiment. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"The bigger picture
.... The difficulty lies in making cells potent enough to be clinically relevant and easy to administer. The hybrid oxygenation bioelectronics system for implanted therapy (HOBIT) device solves these problems: supplemental oxygen is produced at the site of implant and enables a greater density of cells in the subcutaneous space, allowing a minimally invasive procedure to deliver a complex biologic regimen in a proof-of-concept model. From here, the platform can be expanded to target a variety of diseases or cell types to maximize efficacy and feasible translation.
Highlights
• A fully implantable, subcutaneous device enables high-density cell therapy
• Complex biologic therapy regimens are enabled with the HOBIT design
• The HOBIT device demonstrates power-efficient, subcutaneous oxygen generation
Summary
Cell therapy shows promise for sustained delivery of therapeutics, allowing a single dose to replace repeated injections and lasting many months to years. As cells are typically delivered systemically, a natural progression of cell therapy is to miniaturize and compact the cells into a single device. However, the nutrient requirements, coupled with practical limits on device size, limit its application. In addition, while the subcutaneous space presents a convenient location for implantation, oxygen supply is limited and restricts the density of effective cell therapy.
To address this problem, we designed and validated a wireless, fully implantable platform to produce local oxygen and increase the maximum cell density. We demonstrate that encapsulated cells with a density of 60 million cells per mL are viable in our device for 31 days in vivo. This technology has the potential to serve as a platform for cell therapy, allowing clinically relevant doses with minimally invasive implants."
Design of a wireless, fully implantable platform for in-situ oxygenation of encapsulated cell therapies (no public access)
Graphical abstract
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