Above the dose threshold: a simple way to improve the delivery efficiency of nanomedicine

Recently, a paper by Warren Chan et al. published in Nature Materials, discovered a simple way to improve the tumor delivery efficiency by reaching a nanomedicine dose above a threshold. 1 As the largest organ of the reticuloendothelial system, the liver takes up majority of nanomedicine after ingestion. 2 This dose threshold is based on the kinetic balance between the uptake of nanomedicine in the liver and the absorption in the tumor, which is related to the number of receptors and binding sites available on Kupffer cells residing in the liver (Fig. 1 ). A dose exceeding the effective binding site threshold overwhelmed the Kupffer cells, therefore it can reduce the liver clearance of nanomedicine and prolong the circulation. Fig. 1 Above the dose threshold: Large numbers of nanoparticles above the 1 trillion threshold overwhelmed Kupffer cells, reduced liver clearance, prolonged circulation and enhanced accumulation in the tumor Full size image