Widespread clinical use of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) is hindered by the side effects of systemic immunosuppressive drugs, such as tacrolimus. Gajanayake et al. loaded tacrolimus into an injectable self-assembled hydrogel, which releases the drug in response to proteolytic enzymes that are overexpressed during inflammation. A single injection of the hydrogel into a rat hindlimb transplantation model significantly prolonged graft survival and reduced the immune response, compared to tacrolimus only-treated recipients.
References
Gajanayake, T. et al. A single localized dose of enzyme-responsive hydrogel improves long-term survival of a vascularized composite allograft. Sci. Transl. Med. 6, 249ra110 (2014)
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Crunkhorn, S. Hydrogel safely delivers immunosuppressant. Nat Rev Drug Discov 13, 726 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4451
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4451