What is it about?

The majority of pregnancy complications are caused by a poorly growing or poorly functioning placenta. However, due to the potential risks of harming the fetus, there are no drug therapies for pregnancy complications; all doctors can do is deliver the baby early and transfer it to the neonatal intensive care unit. We have developed a way of selectively delivering drugs to the placenta, to improve its growth and function, without the drugs crossing to the fetus and potentially causing it harm.

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Why is it important?

Development of treatments for pregnancy complications is severely lacking due to under-investment by the pharmaceutical industry and pregnant women being considered a high risk, low return cohort. By providing a means of selectively targeting drugs to the placenta, we can not only reduce the risk of harmful side effects for mother and baby, but deliver a lower dose of drug and still achieve a beneficial effect. The targeted nanoparticles we have designed and created can also be used to test new drugs more safely, hopefully sparking more interest and investment in this neglected area.

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This page is a summary of: Tumor-homing peptides as tools for targeted delivery of payloads to the placenta, Science Advances, May 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science,
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600349.
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