Chemicals and Drugs Commons^™

Noninvasive Multi-Cancer Detection Using Blood-Based Cell-Free Micrornas, Jason Zhang, Hallgeir Rui, Hai Hu

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Patients diagnosed with early-stage cancers have a substantially higher chance of survival than those with late-stage diseases. However, the option for early cancer screening is limited, with most cancer types lacking an effective screening tool. Here we report a miRNA-based blood test for multi-cancer early detection based on examination of serum microRNA microarray data from cancer patients and controls. First, a large multi-cancer training set that included 1,408 patients across 7 cancer types and 1,408 age- and gender-matched non-cancer controls was used to develop a 4-microRNA diagnostic model using 10-fold cross-validation. In three independent validation sets comprising a total of …

Modeling Of Benzimidazole Derivatives As Antimalarial Agents Using Qsar Analysis, Ruslin Hadanu, Marham Sitorus

Makara Journal of Science

In this study, quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) analysis was conducted on 20 homologous compounds of benzimidazole derivatives. The structures of the benzimidazole derivatives were optimized using the semiempirical Parameterized Model 3 method of HyperChem for Windows 8.0 to obtain 14 descriptors. Then, multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was performed using the backward method. The results of the MLR analysis obtained four new QSAR equation models. Based on statistical criteria, model 1 was determined as the best QSAR equation model in predicting the theoretical IC₅₀ values of the new benzimidazole derivatives. As many as 20 new compounds of benzimidazole derivatives …

Cd8Α Structural Domains Enhance Gucy2c Car-T Cell Efficacy, Trevor R. Baybutt, Ariana A. Entezari, Adi Caspi, Ross E. Staudt, Robert D. Carlson, Scott A. Waldman, Adam E. Snook

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Despite success in treating some hematological malignancies, CAR-T cells have not yet produced similar outcomes in solid tumors due, in part, to the tumor microenvironment, poor persistence, and a paucity of suitable target antigens. Importantly, the impact of the CAR components on these challenges remains focused on the intracellular signaling and antigen-binding domains. In contrast, the flexible hinge and transmembrane domains have been commoditized and are the least studied components of the CAR. Here, we compared the hinge and transmembrane domains derived from either the CD8ɑ or CD28 molecule in identical GUCY2C-targeted third-generation designs for colorectal cancer. While these structural …

Differential Analysis Of The Impact Of Lesions’ Location On Clinical And Radiological Outcomes After The Implantation Of A Novel Aragonite-Based Scaffold To Treat Knee Cartilage Defects, Pietro Conte, Giuseppe Anzillotti, Dennis C. Crawford, Vinod Dasa, David C. Flanigan, William E. Nordt, Jason M. Scopp, Robert J. Meislin, Eric J. Strauss, Sabrina M. Strickland, Gennaro Fiorentino, Christian Lattermann

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose: There is limited comparative evidence on patient outcomes following cartilage repair in various knee compartments. The aim of this study was to compare clinical and imaging outcomes after treating cartilage defects in femoral condyles and trochlea with either an aragonite-based scaffold or surgical standard of care (SSoC, i.e., debridement/microfractures) in a large multicentre randomized controlled trial. Methods: 247 patients with up to three knee joint surface lesions (ICRS grade IIIa or above) in the femoral condyles, trochlea or both (“mixed”), were enrolled and randomized to surgery with either a cell-free aragonite scaffold or SSoC. Patients were followed for up …

Phytotherapeutic Approach To Enhance The Hepatoprotective Activity Of Some Edible Plants: Molecular Docking And Nanoformulation, Khaled Nematallah, Amgad Abdallah, Noha Swilam

Pharmacy

This study used molecular docking to evaluate phytochemicals from 47 plants against liver fibrosis. It identified potent compounds, prompting further investigation of chamomile, pomegranate, ginseng, and artichoke. Extracts from these plants were characterized and formulated into a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS). Studies on the herbal formula exhibited around 150% higher flavonoids, 50% higher polyphenols, 178% higher antioxidant activity, and synergistic In-vitro hepatoprotective effects compared to the average results of individual extracts. Both the aqueous suspension and the nanoformulation of the formula offered in-vivo protection against paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. The SMEDDS group showed superior outcomes, with no significant differences …

Providing End-Of-Life Counseling: A Narrative Inquiry, Carol Hecht, Sibyl West

Adultspan Journal

This qualitative study aimed to address the gap in the research related to end-of-life counseling by exploring the experiences of counselors working with clients at end of life. While counseling literature and education are lacking regarding end of life, many counselors will work alongside clients approaching death. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to better understand the nuanced experiences of counselors providing end-of-life counseling and (b) to explore the supports and preparations helpful for counselors to provide end-of-life counseling. A narrative approach, using the Listening Guide (Gilligan, 2015), was employed to analyze and present the stories of three …

Considerations Of Medicare Telehealth Services With Older Adults, Sonah Kho, Amanda Dediego

Adultspan Journal

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic set in motion a rapid expansion of mental health services offered via telehealth. With this rapid expansion came the need to examine how policy and practice should be shaped in a future where telehealth is considered common in counseling practice. For counselors to understand how to support older adult clients in using telehealth services, they must understand telehealth policy. Following the eligibility of licensed counselors to participate in Medicare, counselors need to stay abreast of regulatory changes regarding restrictions and regulations on use of telehealth for mental and behavioral health services, including video and …

Predicting Mutation-Induced Allosteric Changes In Structures And Conformational Ensembles Of The Abl Kinase Using Alphafold2 Adaptations With Alanine Sequence Scanning, Nishank Raisinghani, Mohammed Alshahrani, Grace Gupta, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the success of AlphaFold2 approaches in predicting single protein structures, these methods showed intrinsic limitations in predicting multiple functional conformations of allosteric proteins and have been challenged to accurately capture the effects of single point mutations that induced significant structural changes. We examined several implementations of AlphaFold2 methods to predict conformational ensembles for state-switching mutants of the ABL kinase. The results revealed that a combination of randomized alanine sequence masking with shallow multiple sequence alignment subsampling can significantly expand the conformational diversity of the predicted structural ensembles and capture shifts in populations of the active and inactive ABL states. …

Investigation Of The Endogenous Opioid Neural Circuitry In Pain, Erin Nicole Bobeck

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Removal Of Common Antimicrobial Agents By Sustained Low- Efficiency Dialysis, Joanna Q. Hudson Pharmd, Bcps, Fasn, Fccp, Madelyn N. Hilgers Bs, Pharmd Candidate, Elvira O. Gosmanova Md

Faculty Publications

Adequate dosing of antimicrobials is paramount for treating infections in critically ill patients undergoing kidney replacement therapy; however, little is known about antimicrobial removal by sustained low-efficiency dialysis (SLED). The objective was to quantify the removal of cefepime, daptomycin, meropenem, piperacillin–tazobactam, and vancomycin in patients undergoing SLED. Adult patients ≥18 years with acute kidney injury (AKI) or end-stage kidney disease receiving one of the select antimicrobials and requiring SLED were included. Blood and dialysate flow rates were maintained at 250 and 100 mL/min, respectively. Simultaneous arterial and venous blood samples for the analysis of antibiotic concentrations were collected hourly for …

Alphafold2 Modeling And Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of The Conformational Ensembles For The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Omicron Jn.1, Kp.2 And Kp.3 Variants: Mutational Profiling Of Binding Energetics Reveals Epistatic Drivers Of The Ace2 Affinity And Escape Hotspots Of Antibody Resistance, Nishank Raisinghani, Mohammed Alshahrani, Grace Gupta, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

AlphaFold2-based atomistic predictions of structures and conformational ensembles of the SARS-CoV-2 spike complexes with the host receptor ACE2 for the most dominant Omicron variants JN.1, KP.1, KP.2 and KP.3 to examine the mechanisms underlying the role of convergent evolution hotspots in balancing ACE2 binding and antibody evasion. Using the ensemble-based mutational scanning of the spike protein residues and computations of binding affinities, we identified binding energy hotspots and characterized the molecular basis underlying epistatic couplings between convergent mutational hotspots. The results suggested the existence of epistatic interactions between convergent mutational sites at L455, F456, Q493 positions that protect and restore …

Breathe Easy: The Potential Of Vitamins As Adjunct Therapy In Asthma Management, Elena Dike, Alex Zuo

Research Colloquium

Asthma, a prevalent respiratory disease, imposes a heavy burden on patients and healthcare systems. This research poster reviews recent findings on the potential of Vitamins A, C and E as adjunct therapies in asthma management. Comprehensive searches in PubMed, the NIH and Google Scholar identify multiple relevant publications and articles. Key results indicate that Vitamin A reduces Th2/Th17 levels and ROS, protecting the airway epithelium; Vitamin C decreases inflammatory cells and increases cGMP levels, reducing airway hyper-reactivity; and Vitamin E reduces eosinophils, basophils and neutrophils while also reducing ROS. These findings suggest that increasing intake of these vitamins, under medical …

Targeting Ribosome Biogenesis Is A Novel Approach For The Management Of Pancreatic Cancer, Mudassier Ahmad, Haider Ahsan, Carlos Perez, Muhammad Bangash, Andrew Massey, Emmanuel Anning, Manish Tripathi, Dae Kim, Subhash C. Chauhan, Bilal Bin Hafeez

Research Colloquium

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States with limited therapeutic options available. Gemcitabine, a deoxycytidine nucleoside analog is currently considered the most effective therapy for PanCa. However, it shows only a marginal survival benefit of six months. Aberrant ribosome biogenesis occurs in most tumor types. We observed that PanCa cells are addicted to ribosome biogenesis, which supports their highly aggressive metastatic phenotypes. Thus, strategically targeting ribosome biogenesis process could be one of the ideal strategies for the prevention and treatment of PanCa. In this study, we elucidated the molecular mechanisms of POLR1A …

Mouse Monocytes Express Cd127 By Immune Cells, Not Lps, Reza Yazdani, Mozhde Askari, Amir Moghadam-Ahmadi, Gholamreza Azizi, Bogoljub Ciric, Alexandra Boehm, Guang-Xian Zhang, Mohamad Rostami

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

The essential role of interleukin 7 (IL-7) signaling via its receptor (IL-7Rα; CD127) in T cell development and function has been well documented. However, CD127 expression and function in myeloid cells, including monocytes, are less clear, especially in mice. In the present study we report an inducible CD127 expression in mouse monocytes/macrophages. This induction is dependent on the presence of other immune cells, highlighting that regulation of CD127 expression on monocytes differs in mice and humans. We demonstrate that CD127 is functional, as IL-7 downregulated its expression. We also saw decreased CD127 expression during inflammation in vivo. Overall, upregulation …

Immunoactive Signatures Of Circulating Trna- And Rrna-Derived Rnas In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Megumi Shigematsu, Takuya Kawamura, Deepak Deshpande, Yohei Kirino

Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most prevalent lung disease, and macrophages play a central role in the inflammatory response in COPD. We here report a comprehensive characterization of circulating short non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) in plasma from patients with COPD. While circulating sncRNAs are increasingly recognized for their regulatory roles and biomarker potential in various diseases, the conventional RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) method cannot fully capture these circulating sncRNAs due to their heterogeneous terminal structures. By pre-treating the plasma RNAs with T4 polynucleotide kinase, which converts all RNAs to those with RNA-seq susceptible ends (5′-phosphate and 3′-hydroxyl), we comprehensively sequenced …

Engineered Nls-Chimera Downregulates Expression Of Aggregation-Prone Endogenous Fus, Miyuki Hayashi, Amandeep Girdhar, Ying-Hui Ko, Kevin Kim, Jacquelyn Depierro, Joseph R. Buchler, Nikhita Arunprakash, Aditya Bajaj, Gino Cingolani, Lin Guo

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Importin β-superfamily nuclear import receptors (NIRs) mitigate mislocalization and aggregation of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), like FUS and TDP-43, which are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. NIRs potently disaggregate RBPs by recognizing their nuclear localization signal (NLS). However, disease-causing mutations in NLS compromise NIR binding and activity. Here, we define features that characterize the anti-aggregation activity of NIR and NLS. We find that high binding affinity between NIR and NLS, and optimal NLS location relative to the aggregating domain plays a role in determining NIR disaggregation activity. A designed FUS chimera (FUS_IBB), carrying the importin β binding (IBB) domain, is …

Aars Online: A Collaborative Database On The Structure, Function, And Evolution Of The Aminoacyl-Trna Synthetases, Jordan Douglas, Haissi Cui, John J. Perona, Oscar Vargas-Rodriguez, Henna Tyynismaa, Claudia Alvarez Carreño, Jiqiang Ling, Lluís Ribas De Pouplana, Xiang-Lei Yang, Michael Ibba, Hubert Becker, Frédéric Fischer, Marie Sissler, Charles W. Carter Jr., Peter Wills

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) are a large group of enzymes that implement the genetic code in all known biological systems. They attach amino acids to their cognate tRNAs, moonlight in various translational and non-translational activities beyond aminoacylation, and are linked to many genetic disorders. The aaRS have a subtle ontology characterized by structural and functional idiosyncrasies that vary from organism to organism, and protein to protein. Across the tree of life, the 22 coded amino acids are handled by 16 evolutionary families of Class I aaRS and 21 families of Class II aaRS. We introduce AARS Online, an interactive Wikipedia-like …

Perilous Consequences Of Chemotherapy Induced Alopecia In Afflicted Cancer Survivors: A Comprehensive State Of The Art Review, Salma A. Fereig, Mona Gamal Arafa, Ghada Mamdouh Elzaafarany, Mona Mohamed Ahmed Abdelmottaleb, John Youshia

Pharmacy

Due to researchers’ great efforts during previous and current centuries to cure cancer, a remarkable increase in the number of cancer survivors has been observed. However, side effects of chemotherapeutic agents greatly affect the quality of life of cancer cases, usually referred to as cancer stigma, the most psychologically traumatizing of which is chemotherapy-induced alopecia (anagen effluvium). Unfortunately, there is no preventive protocol for chemotherapy-induced alopecia to date. The only suggested technique is vasoconstriction by scalp cooling during and after chemotherapy sessions to minimize the absorption of cytotoxic agents within the hair follicle area; a technique that is not very …

Clinical Practice Guideline-Inconsistent Chemotherapy-Induced Vomiting Prophylaxis In Pediatric Cancer Patients In Community Settings: A Children's Oncology Group Study, Aaron J. Sugalski, Allison C. Grimes, Michelle M. Nuño, Subhash Ramakrishnan, Melissa P. Beauchemin, Paula D. Robinson, Nancy Santesso, Alexandra M. Walsh, Andrea R. Wrightson, Lolie C. Yu, Susan K. Parsons, Lillian Sung, L. Lee Dupuis

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: This study aimed to determine the proportion of patients receiving clinical practice guideline (CPG)-inconsistent care related to chemotherapy-induced vomiting (CIV) prophylaxis, and to describe the association between CPG-inconsistent care and site size. The association between delivery of CPG-inconsistent care and patient outcomes (CIV control, admission prolongation, and unplanned healthcare visits) was also described. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at Children's Oncology Group (COG) National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) sites. Eligible patients received highly (HEC) or moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC) as inpatients from January 2014 through December 2015, and were previously enrolled in a COG …

Improving Ligand Pharmacokinetics Via Bioisosteric Substitution Of Amides With 1, 2, 3-Triazoles While Maintaining Dopamine D4 Receptor Selectivity And Potency, Mohammad Alkhatib

Theses and Dissertations

Several neurophysiological functions, such as attention, cognition, and emotional regulation, are regulated by the binding of dopamine on G-Protein coupled receptors. D4Rs are mainly located in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus and are known to have a key role in decision-making, memory formation, cognition, and attention. Administration of D4Rs- selective ligands during the preclinical studies enhance the outcomes and the results in animal models suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders, including ADHD, substance use disorders (SUD), and Alzheimer's disease. Recently, we reported a group of D4R-selective ligands with different efficacies depending on their phenylpiperazine ring scaffold to illustrate D4R function during …

Successful Treatment Of A Chronic Recurrent Expanding Hematoma Of The Thigh, Gianfranco Galantini, Bakhtawar Mushtaq, Jesse Ottaway, Charles Long

Abington Jefferson Health Papers

Chronic expanding hematoma (CEH) is a rare entity that poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to persistent growth, risk of recurrence, and potential for blood loss anemia. The most common etiologies of CEH are trauma or surgery. It is thought to occur due to irritant effects of blood breakdown products, causing bleeding from capillaries in chronic granulation tissue. Although treatment of CEH is variable, complete surgical excision of the hematoma and its pseudocapsule is the gold standard. We present a case of a 15-year CEH that was initially treated with limited evacuation of the hematoma and cavity decortication, resulting in …

Complications And Influential Perioperative Factors Associated With Spaceoar Hydrogel Placement, Kerith Wang, Rishabh Simhal, Cassra Clark, Mark Mann, James Mark, Costas Lallas, Robert Den, Edouard Trabulsi

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To examine one academic institution's experiences with SpaceOAR placement, its associated complications, and periprocedural characteristics that affect outcomes for the purpose of quality improvement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 233 patients who received SpaceOAR from four surgeons and one radiation oncologist between 2018 and 2021. Variables such as demographics, oncologic parameters, radiation plan, and radiographic assessment of hydrogel placement were recorded. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was used to assess comorbidity risk. Mann-Whitney and Fisher's exact tests were performed to compare patients with and without complications.

RESULTS: Of the 233 patients who received SpaceOAR, 24 …

Keratin 17 Is A Prognostic And Predictive Biomarker In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Lyanne Delgado-Coka, Lucia Roa-Peña, Sruthi Babu, Michael Horowitz, Emanuel Petricoin, Lynn Matrisian, Edik Blais, Natalia Marchenko, Felicia Allard, Ali Akalin, Wei Jiang, Md, Phd, Brent Larson, Andrew Hendifar, Vincent Picozzi, Minsig Choi, Kenneth Shroyer, Luisa Escobar-Hoyos

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: To determine the role of keratin 17 (K17) as a predictive biomarker for response to chemotherapy by defining thresholds of K17 expression based on immunohistochemical tests that could be used to optimize therapeutic intervention for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: We profiled K17 expression, a hallmark of the basal molecular subtype of PDAC, by immunohistochemistry in 2 cohorts of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded PDACs (n = 305). We determined a K17 threshold of expression to optimize prognostic stratification according to the lowest Akaike information criterion and explored the potential relationship between K17 and chemoresistance by multivariate predictive analyses.

RESULTS: …

Factors Associated With Recanalization And Reintervention Following Below Knee Polidocanol Endovenous Microfoam Ablation For Great Saphenous And Small Saphenous Veins, John Fang, Christian Fang, Andy Moyal, Enrico Ascher, Anil Hingorani, Natalie Marks

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: Polidocanol endovenous microfoam (PEM) has been used to treat lower extremity venous reflux for almost one decade with specific advantages for below knee (BK) truncal veins where thermal ablation poses a risk of injury to adjacent nerves. The current literature of the BK segment often examines short-term outcomes with modest sample sizes. We aim to identify factors associated with recanalization and reintervention in this subset of patients.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of a prospectively maintained database of patients from a single institution who underwent 1% PEM ablation for BK great saphenous vein (GSV) and small saphenous vein …

A Comparison Of The Safety And Efficacy Of Tapinarof And Roflumilast Topical Therapies In The Management Of Mild-To-Moderate Plaque Psoriasis, Hira Ghani, Alicia Podwojniak, Isabella J Tan, Aarushi K Parikh, Bianca Sanabria, Babar Rao

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. First-line topical treatments include steroids, calcineurin inhibitors, vitamin D analogs, and anthralin. Recently, novel topical therapeutics like tapinarof and roflumilast have emerged with unique anti-inflammatory mechanisms and promising efficacy profiles.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review utilized PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases to identify recent studies on tapinarof and roflumilast. Criteria focused on efficacy, safety profiles, and therapeutic roles in psoriasis treatment.

RESULTS: Four primary literature articles were identified for tapinarof and five for roflumilast. Both drugs demonstrated strong efficacy with minimal adverse events in treating mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis. Tapinarof showed …

Evaluating Efficacy Of Vedolizumab, Ustekinumab, And Golimumab In The Management Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease And The Combined Role Of Nutritional Therapy With Biologics: A Review, Shahed Kamal, Karan Varshney, Danielle Josefa F. Uayan, Fides Myles C. Caliwag

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), is a major health burden worldwide. There are increasing concerns surrounding the impacts of this disease due to significant rises in the prevalence rates of IBD across the world. In consideration of the complexities of managing IBD along with this marked rise in prevalence and incidence, developing new forms of treatment for this condition has become a major priority. In recent years, a potential new form of treatment for IBD has emerged in the form of biologic therapies. While there is a high level of optimism …

July / August / September 2024, Randy Curry, Cindy Brooks

RURAL ROCKS

This is the July, August, and September issue of Rural Rocks from the SWOSU College of Pharmacy.

Exploiting The Heavy Chain Glycans For The Improvement Of Radioimmunoconjugates, Cindy Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Radiolabeled antibodies have become indispensable tools in nuclear medicine. However, the natural roles of antibodies within the immune system mean that they have several intrinsic limitations as a platform for radiopharmaceuticals. A handful of recent preclinical studies suggest that binding by FcR and particularly FcyRI can affect the pharmacokinetic profiles of 89Zr-labeled radioimmunoconjugates. Fc receptors (FcR) are responsible for many of the interactions between immunoglobulins (IgG) and immune cells. In biomedicine, this interplay is critical to the activity of several types of immunotherapeutics; however, relatively little is known about how FcRs affect the in vivo performance of radiolabeled antibodies. Antibodies …

Incorporating Solvation Thermodynamic Mapping In Computer-Aided Drug Design, Yeonji Ji

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Advancements in computational techniques have revolutionized structure-based drug design, substantially improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the drug discovery process by reducing time, costs, and labor requirements. These advancements include various methods, such as investigating small molecule ligands binding to proteins, exploring alternative protein conformations, and solvation mapping on the protein surfaces. Among these methods, understanding the correlation between protein-ligand binding and the role of solvation is important.

A fundamental concept in protein-ligand binding is shape and electrostatic complementarity, which is complicated by the inherent flexibility of proteins. In the absence of small molecule ligands, proteins are complementary to surface …

A Pseudo-Surfactant Chemical Permeation Enhancer To Treat Otitis Media Via Sustained Transtympanic Delivery Of Antibiotics, Sophie S. Liu, Joanna M. White, Zhongmou Chao, Ruye Li, Shuxian Wen, Ally Garza, Wenjing Tang, Xiaojing Ma, Pengyu Chen, Susan Daniel

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs) represent a prevalent and safe strategy to enable non-invasive drug delivery across skin-like biological barriers such as the tympanic membrane (TM). While most existing CPEs interact strongly with the lipid bilayers in the stratum corneum to create defects as diffusion paths, their interactions with the delivery system, such as polymers forming a hydrogel, could compromise gelation, formulation stability, and drug diffusion. To overcome that challenge, we explore the differing interactions present with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an ionic surfactant and a common CPE, and methyl laurate (ML), a non-ionic counterpart with a similar length alkyl chain. …