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Research

Development of Amygel for Clinical Use

Amygel is a novel injectable hydrogel designed for local chemotherapy delivery to solid tumors. Amygel can greatly improve solid tumor treatment outcomes and prevent the devastating effects of systemic chemotherapy exposure. 

Significance 

  • There is significant long-term morbidity and mortality associated with treatment of childhood cancer, and the risk of these effects continues to increase years after completion of therapy.  

Innovation  

  • Lipophilic compounds are known to have much higher tissue penetration than water soluble ones, and Amygel can be synthesized in organic solvent to accommodate lipophilic compounds that are otherwise difficult to formulate because of their aqueous insolubility.  

Approach  

  • Development of Amygel for clinical use has three focus areas including:  
  1. Increase drug concentration at the target site. Currently, less than 5% of an intravenous dose of chemotherapy reaches the tumor. 
  1. Improve drug penetration. Although most chemotherapy agents must be converted to a salt form to improve their aqueous solubility, lipophilic compounds have much better tissue penetration than water soluble ones. Amygel can be synthesized in organic solvent to deliver lipophilic compounds and improve drug distribution in the tumor tissue. 
  1. Develop chemotherapy dosage forms for pediatric use to improve treatment outcomes and prevent long term side effects. 
(A-C) Mid-transverse ultrasound images of a tumor treated with drug in solution taken before treatment, injection, and 15 days post-treatment.   
(D-F) Mid-transverse ultrasound images of a tumor treated with drug in Amygel taken before treatment, injection, and 15 days post-treatment where the Amygel is clearly visible.  
(G) Tumor regions highlighted – blue is tumor surface, green is region of necrosis, and red is Amygel.   
(H) Fluorescent image taken ex vivo showed drug present 10 mm in all directions from the Amygel implant site.  There was 240% more drug present in Amygel treated tumors versus solution 15 days post-injection.   
(I)  TUNEL staining of the tumor tissue samples showed diffuse apoptosis (brown) throughout the tumors and complete loss of tissue at the Amygel implant site. 

Lab & Core Facilities

Barker Lab Main: Dougherty 612 (800 sqft laboratory with BSL-2 cell culture space)

Barker Lab Satellite: UTMC (300 sqft laboratory with BSL-2 cell culture space)

Collaborative Work Spaces/User Programs

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