Move over, oxygen. It is time for the good old erythrocytes to transport drugs too! Researchers have chosen RBCs, owing to their longer lifespan and sturdy structure , to serve as alternatives to traditional nonspecific drug delivery systems that may degrade rapidly and affect healthy cells. RBCs were modified to form liposomes which were conjugated to bacteria-specific antibodies.
These were then used to confine antibiotics and were reinjected into the body. Here, they reached the target bacteria and delivered the drug without interacting with other cells. These natural delivery vehicles were successfully tested with the world’s only remaining resistance-proof antibiotic, Polymyxin B (PmB) , to fight resistant E.coli that’s responsible for causing several serious infections. This discovery has opened avenues for leveraging natural systems to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier…
