Development of a drug-coated microneedle array and its application for transdermal delivery of interferon alpha

Abstract

Interferon alpha (IFNα) is one of the most famous drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C and various types of human malignancy. Protein drugs, including IFNα, are generally administered by subcutaneous or intramuscular injection due to their poor permeability and low stability in the bloodstream or gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, in the present study, novel IFNα-coated polyvinyl alcohol-based microneedle arrays (IFNα-MNs) were fabricated for the transdermal delivery of IFNα without the painful injection. IFNα was rapidly released from MNs in phosphate buffered solution and these MNs presented piercing ability in the rat skin. Slight erythema and irritation were observed when MNs were applied to the rat skin, but these skin damages completely disappeared within 24 h after removing the IFNα-MNs. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic parameters of IFNα-MNs were similar to those of IFNα subcutaneous administration. Finally, IFNα-MNs showed a significant antitumor effect in tumor bearing mice similar to that of IFNα subcutaneous administration. These results indicate that IFNα-MNs are a useful biomaterial tool for protein drug therapy and can improve the quality of life in patients by avoidance of painful injections.

Progress in Microneedle-Mediated Protein Delivery

“…Human growth hormone ormone-coated titanium MNs showed a bioavailability similar to that of subcutaneous injections [82]. In another study, interferon-alpha coated polymeric MNs induced an antitumor effect in cancerous mice, similar to subcutaneous injections [83]. Parathyroid hormone delivery by utilizing coated MNs showed a rapid peak in plasma, faster than subcutaneous injections, with a high temperature stability for more than 2 years [84].…”

3D Printing—A “Touch-Button” Approach to Manufacture Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

“…The irritation can be observed dermatoscopically or stereomicroscopically. The degree of skin irritation, although subjective and variable, can be determined by the Draize method in which the skin is observed macroscopically before and after the application of MNs and dermatological changes are evaluated according to the degree of erythema and edema [ 205 ]. Skin recovery can also be assessed by monitoring changes in the skin over time using digital photographs [ 19 ].…”

Effect of the Thermal History on the Crystallinity of Poly (L-lactic Acid) During the Micromolding Process

“…Finally, we demonstrated the fabrication of microneedles using the micromolding process with different thermal histories. Microneedles are widely used in biomedical microdevices for the drug delivery and vaccination technology [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. The fabrication process of microneedle arrays was performed using the same procedure of forming PLLA sheet samples.…”