Drug delivery through nanoparticles in solid tumors: a mechanistic understanding

In this study, the main goal was to apply a multi-scale computational model in evaluating nano-sized drug-delivery systems, following extracellular drug release, into solid tumors in order to predict treatment efficacy. The impact of several parameters related to tumor (size, shape, vessel-wall pore size, and necrotic core size) and therapeutic agents (size of nanoparticles, binding affinity of drug, drug release rate from nanoparticles) are examined in detail. This study illustrates that achieving a higher treatment efficacy requires smaller nanoparticles (NPs) or a low binding affinity and drug release rate. Long-term analysis finds that a slow release rate in extracellular space does not always improve treatment efficacy compared with a rapid release rate; NP size as well as binding affinity of drug are also highly influential. The presented methodology can be used as a step forward towards optimization of patient-specific nanomedicine plans.