Study reveals promising technology for sepsis treatment using functional magnetic nanoclusters

A research team has introduced a novel technology capable of removing inflammation-triggering agents in extracorporeal blood.

The team, led by Professors Joo Hun Kang and Jinmyoung Joo in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Jae Hyuk Lee from Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, anticipates that this innovation will open avenues for sepsis treatment by demonstrating excellent therapeutic effects under conditions similar to those of actual patients.

In their study, published in Small Methods, the team presented a clinically applicable magnetic extracorporeal blood cleansing device utilizing magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) enveloped by nanovesicles derived from red blood cells (RBC-MNVs).

Utilizing superparamagnetic nanoclusters (SPNCs), the new method is capable of rapidly and effectively removing pathogenic and pathogen-related substances that cause sepsis. Their findings from preclinical experiments also validated the clinical utility of their SPNC-based blood cleansing method by treating lethally infected bacteremic model swine that have similar physiological features to humans.

Image source: Park et al. (2024), Small Methods.