Three-Dimensional Lymphatics-on-a-Chip Reveals Distinct, Size-Dependent Nanoparticle Transport Mechanisms in Lymphatic Drug Delivery

Although nanoparticle-based lymphatic drug delivery systems promise better treatment of cancer, infectious disease, and immune disease, their clinical translations are limited by low delivery efficiencies and unclear transport mechanisms. Here, we employed a three-dimensional (3D) lymphatics-on-a-chip featuring an engineered lymphatic vessel (LV) capable of draining interstitial fluids including nanoparticles. We tested lymphatic drainage of different sizes (30, 50, and 70 nm) of PLGA-b-PEG nanoparticles (NPs) using the lymphatics-on-a-chip device. In this study, we discovered that smaller NPs (30 and 50 nm) transported faster than larger NPs (70 nm) through the interstitial space, as expected, but the smaller NPs were captured by lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) and accumulated within their cytosol, delaying NP transport into the lymphatic lumen, which was not observed in larger NPs. To examine the mechanisms of size-dependent NP transports, we employed four inhibitors, dynasore, nystatin, amiloride, and adrenomedullin, to selectively block dynamin-, caveolin-, macropinocytosis-mediated endocytosis-, and cell junction-mediated paracellular transport. Inhibiting dynamin using dynasore enhanced the transport of smaller NPs (30 and 50 nm) into the lymphatic lumen, minimizing cytosolic accumulation, but showed no effect on larger NP transport. Interestingly, the inhibition of caveolin by nystatin decreased the lymphatic transport of larger NPs without affecting the smaller NP transport, indicating distinct endocytosis mechanisms used by different sizes of NPs. Macropinocytosis inhibition by amiloride did not change the drainage of all sizes of NPs; however, paracellular transport inhibition by adrenomedullin blocked the lymphatic transport of NPs of all sizes. We further revealed that smaller NPs were captured in the Rab7-positive late-stage lymphatic endosomes to delay their lymphatic drainage, which was reversed by dynamin inhibition, suggesting that Rab7 is a potential target to enhance the lymphatic delivery of smaller NPs. Together, our 3D lymphatics-on-a-chip model unveils size-dependent NP transport mechanisms in lymphatic drug delivery.