Extracorporeal Device for Targeted Cell Receptor Modulation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Systemic drug administration to modulate cell surface receptors can result in undesirable side effects on other cells or tissues, limiting the effectiveness of treating diseases involving cell-cell interactions.
Innovation Solution
An extracorporeal device and method where blood or blood fractions are passed through a system with immobilized agents, such as cytokines or chemokines, to modify cell receptors, allowing for targeted cell modification without systemic side effects, using covalent or ionic bonding on surfaces like hollow fibers or beads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If systemic drug administration is used to modulate cell surface receptors, then cell receptor modulation is achieved, but undesirable side effects on other cells or tissues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the drug action from systemic circulation and confines it to a specific extracorporeal treatment circuit. Blood is withdrawn, treated with the immobilized drug on artificial surfaces outside the body, and then returned, ensuring the drug only affects circulating cells and not other tissues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates local drug action by immobilizing the drug on specific surfaces within the extracorporeal circuit. This allows different regions of the treatment system to have different functional properties, with drug-containing surfaces selectively modifying circulating cells while other components maintain normal physiological conditions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If immobilized agents are used on extracorporeal surfaces to target cells, then targeted cell modification is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs universal artificial surface structures (hollow fibers, beads, plates) that can be functionalized with various immobilized agents to treat different diseases. The same basic device architecture can be adapted for different therapeutic purposes by changing the immobilized agent, making the system multi-functional and versatile.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses artificial surface structures as intermediaries between the immobilized drug and the circulating cells. These surfaces serve as mediators that present the drug to cells in a controlled manner, enabling targeted modification without direct systemic administration.
3Productivity
If blood is circulated through extracorporeal device with immobilized agents, then cell modification occurs, but contact time with agents is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curved and three-dimensional surface structures such as hollow fibers and beads instead of flat surfaces. This increases the surface area available for drug immobilization and creates multiple contact points as cells circulate through the device, effectively increasing contact time without extending the overall circulation duration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses nested or multi-layered surface structures where immobilized agents are presented on surfaces within the extracorporeal circuit. Cells pass through multiple zones or layers of drug-containing surfaces, receiving cumulative exposure to the immobilized agents during a single circulation pass.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables targeted modification of circulating cells, reducing unwanted responses and allowing for the treatment of conditions like sepsis, inflammatory diseases, and cancer by altering cell behavior in a controlled environment, minimizing side effects on other tissues.
Implementation Method 1
binding of various agents, binding agents or ligands to their respective receptors on the cell surface
Implementation Method 2
The agent can, for example, be immobilized via covalent bonding or ionic bonding to the at least one surface
Implementation Method 3
The agent can, for example, be immobilized via covalent bonding or ionic bonding to the at least one surface
Data Source
AI summary
A method of modifying cells includes removing fluid including cells from a patient, contacting the removed fluid from the patient with at least one surface upon which at least one agent to interact at least one cell receptor is immobilized to modify cells in the fluid, and returning the fluid to the patient. The agent can, for example, be immobilized via covalent bonding or ionic bonding to the at least one surface. The fluid can, for example, be blood or a blood fraction. The agent can, for example, be an agonist, an antagonist or an inverse agonist.