Drug-eluting microneedles for self-administered treatment of keloids

Abstract

Keloid is a long-term dermatological scarring disease characterized by disfiguring lesions resulting from overgrowth of dense fibrous tissue. Current therapeutics are ineffective, require clinical supervision and can be costly. This study investigated the use of microneedle technology in the self-management of keloid lesions. Specifically, a microneedle patch comprising of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and encapsulating 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been developed for transdermal delivery. The microneedle patches showed requisite mechanical strength (hardness 45 ± 11 MPa, elastic modulus 0.66 ± 0.16 GPa) and were able to puncture porcine epidermis. The choice of PEGDA substrate enabled conformability to non-planar anatomical regions (e.g. elbow), with about 50% of the loaded 5-FU released during the first 12 hours. Thereafter, the microneedle efficacy was evaluated on in vitro keloid fibroblast culture models, where 5-FU loaded microneedles effectively abolished keloid fibroblast proliferation activity. In summary, we have developed a microneedle device with a good potential as an effective, economical and self-applied therapy for keloid scars.