Enhanced drug delivery to the reproductive tract using nanomedicine reveals therapeutic options for prevention of preterm birth

Hannah C. Zierden; Jairo I. Ortiz; Kevin DeLong; Jingqi Yu; Gaoshan Li; Peter Dimitrion; Sabrine Bensouda; Victoria Laney; Anna Bailey; Nicole M. Anders; Morgan Scardina; Mala Mahendroo; Sam Mesiano; Irina Burd; Gunter Wagner; Justin Hanes; Laura M. Ensign

doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.abc6245

Research ArticlePreterm Birth

Enhanced drug delivery to the reproductive tract using nanomedicine reveals therapeutic options for prevention of preterm birth

View ORCID ProfileHannah C. Zierden ¹,²,
Jairo I. Ortiz¹,³,
Kevin DeLong ¹,³,
View ORCID ProfileJingqi Yu¹,⁴,
View ORCID ProfileGaoshan Li¹,²,
Peter Dimitrion¹,
Sabrine Bensouda¹,
Victoria Laney¹,²,
Anna Bailey¹,⁴,
Nicole M. Anders⁵,
Morgan Scardina⁵,
Mala Mahendroo⁶,
Sam Mesiano⁷,
Irina Burd⁸,
View ORCID ProfileGunter Wagner ⁹,
View ORCID ProfileJustin Hanes¹,²,³,⁴,⁵ and
View ORCID ProfileLaura M. Ensign ¹,²,³,⁴,⁵,⁸,*

¹Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
²Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
³Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
⁴Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
⁵Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
⁶Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
⁷Department of Reproductive Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
⁸Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
⁹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

↵*Corresponding author. Email: lensign{at}jhmi.edu

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Science Translational Medicine 13 Jan 2021:
Vol. 13, Issue 576, eabc6245
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abc6245

Hannah C. Zierden

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

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ORCID record for Hannah C. Zierden

Jairo I. Ortiz

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

3Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Kevin DeLong

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

3Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Jingqi Yu

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Gaoshan Li

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

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Peter Dimitrion

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Sabrine Bensouda

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Victoria Laney

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

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Anna Bailey

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

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Nicole M. Anders

5Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

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Morgan Scardina

5Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

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Mala Mahendroo

6Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.

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Sam Mesiano

7Department of Reproductive Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.

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Irina Burd

8Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

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Gunter Wagner

9Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

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Justin Hanes

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

3Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

5Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

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Laura M. Ensign

1Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

3Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

5Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

8Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

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ORCID record for Laura M. Ensign
For correspondence: lensign@jhmi.edu

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Drug delivery to delay delivery

Preterm birth, often caused by inflammation, is a major contributor to infant morbidity and mortality. It often cannot be predicted, but even for women who are known to be at risk of preterm delivery, there is no currently approved intervention to prevent it, although progesterone-based interventions are sometimes attempted. To improve access of treatments to the appropriate tissues for preventing preterm delivery, Zierden et al. designed a mucoinert nanosuspension to optimize vaginal dosing of therapeutics. The authors demonstrated the effectiveness of their approach in mouse models using histone deacetylase inhibitors with and without progesterone. Their approach improved the rates of full-term delivery of neurotypical pups.

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Enhanced drug delivery to the reproductive tract using nanomedicine reveals therapeutic options for prevention of preterm birth

Drug delivery to delay delivery

Science Translational Medicine

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