Chinese researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize the way diabetes is managed. They have developed a non-invasive method to deliver insulin through the skin, offering a promising alternative to traditional injections. This innovative approach, detailed in a recent publication in the journal Nature, has the potential to significantly improve the lives of millions of diabetes patients worldwide.
The challenge of insulin injections has long been a hurdle for many patients, especially children and the elderly, due to the pain and psychological fear associated with daily injections. Additionally, repeated injections can lead to skin infections and fat hyperplasia, affecting drug absorption. Some patients even opt for fewer injections, which can result in poor blood sugar control. This dilemma has been a persistent issue in diabetes treatment.
Transdermal drug delivery, while not new, has primarily been limited to small-molecule drugs like anesthetics and cardiovascular medications. However, the skin barrier typically only allows a few specific small molecules to penetrate, making it difficult for larger biological macromolecules like insulin to pass through. This is where the new polymer courier, OP, comes into play.
Professor Shen Youqing and his team at Zhejiang University discovered OP, a polymer that demonstrated exceptional permeability in tumor tissues, enabling efficient drug delivery. The team then wondered if OP could also permeate skin tissues. In subsequent experiments, they found that OP exhibited high permeability on the skin, challenging the conventional belief that macromolecules cannot penetrate the skin barrier. This discovery led to a collaborative effort with researchers from Zhejiang University and Imperial College London to explore OP's potential in drug delivery.
The team conjugated OP with insulin to create OP-I, a conjugate that can penetrate deep skin layers and enter the bloodstream through lymphatic vessels in the dermis. This process allows for systemic insulin delivery. During the delivery process, OP acts as the 'courier,' carrying the insulin as the 'package' through the skin and into the bloodstream.
The researchers conducted evaluations in diabetic model animals to assess the effectiveness and safety of this transdermal drug delivery technology. The results showed that OP-I can efficiently target key tissues involved in blood sugar regulation, such as the liver, fat, and muscles. Unlike traditional chemical penetration enhancers, OP-I did not disrupt the skin barrier, and the skin stratum corneum remained intact, with no side effects. Toxicity tests further confirmed OP's high in-vivo safety.
The study suggests that with further clinical research, this new delivery technology could achieve stable blood sugar control by simply applying medication on the skin, significantly improving treatment efficiency. Moreover, this technology platform is not limited to insulin delivery; it can also be applied to other important biological macromolecules, such as Liraglutide, Semaglutide, therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and siRNA.
The technology has already been transferred to enterprises and is progressing towards clinical translation. It holds the potential to transform the delivery system for biological macromolecules and offer innovative solutions for chronic diseases that require long-term injections, such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
