# Development and characterization of a nanocarrier for enhanced delivery of benznidazole during acute and chronic T. cruzi infection

> **NIH NIH R21** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $294,591

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Trypanosoma cruzi is the protozoan parasite that causes Chagas disease, an illness that affects millions in the
western hemisphere from Argentina to Canada. People can become infected with T. cruzi through the bite of
its reduviid bug vector or through several other means, including maternal-fetal transmission and blood
transfusion. Chagas manifests as a chronic cardiomyopathy in approximately one-third of infected individuals
and is the leading cause of infectious myocarditis in the world. Others develop megadisease of the esophagus
or colon. The two drugs used to treat T. cruzi infection, Nifurtimox and Benznidazole (Bz), have been the
mainstay of therapy for decades, with no significant improvement to their well-documented neurotoxicity and
carcinogenicity. Chagas is thus a silent epidemic that is in dire need of more advanced treatment options. We
have developed a novel nanocarrier formulation (nanoBz) that permits the delivery of parasiticidal drugs that
effectively kill T. cruzi parasites at 166-fold lower concentrations than required by the current free drug
formulation. The goals of our proposed research are: Aim 1. To determine how the cellular biodistribution of
nanoBz influences its trypanocidal activity during acute T. cruzi infection. Aim 2. To validate the sustained
delivery of nanoBz for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of chronic T. cruzi infection.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10136403
- **Project number:** 7R21AI144529-02
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Evan Alexander Scott
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $294,591
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2019-03-06 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10136403

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10136403, Development and characterization of a nanocarrier for enhanced delivery of benznidazole during acute and chronic T. cruzi infection (7R21AI144529-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10136403. Licensed CC0.

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