# Development of anti-inflammatory nanodrug for endometriosis treatment

> **NIH NIH R01** · MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $612,857

## Abstract

Project Summary
Endometriosis affects 10-15% of women of reproductive age, and the incidence increases to 50-60% in women
with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The current treatments include surgical removal of lesions or hormonal
suppression; however, these may have many side effects and high risks of relapse. Precision-targeted therapy
with a non-hormonal drug can successfully eradicate endometriosis lesions and alleviate pain symptoms while
reducing its off-target toxicity. pSTAT3 signaling plays a crucial role in immunosuppression and inflammation in
endometriosis. A potential therapeutic approach then is to downregulate the endometriosis-specific
inflammation using antioxidant drugs. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) are potent STAT3 inhibitors due
to their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. The small-sized nanoceria can accumulate in
endometriotic lesions by extravasation through permeable, angiogenic endometrial vasculature. Our
preliminary results demonstrated pSTAT3 overexpression leads to estrogen-dependent inflammation in
endometriosis, and our ROS scavenging nanoceria remarkably reduces the number of endometriotic lesions in
a mouse model. The nanodrug (nanoceria), coated with albumin protein and conjugated with NIR fluorescent
dye (indocyanine green), shows successful systemic endometrial tissue targeting under photoacoustic image
guidance. We hypothesize the novel nanodrug (albumin-nanoceria-ICG) will significantly suppress
endometriotic lesion growth and result in reduced pain and infertility. Multimodal imaging simultaneously offers
real-time monitoring of endometriosis progression and pregnancy and fetal development in living animals. Aim
1 will investigate how pSTAT3 in endometriosis contributes to inflammatory and immunosuppressive conditions
using our endometriosis mouse model and in vivo imaging. Aim 2 will evaluate the theranostic potential of
nanoceria on endometriosis progression and pain alleviation. Aim 3 examines whether the nanodrug will
improve fertility, endometrial receptivity, and implantation. The proposed studies will support uncovering the
molecular mechanism of inflammation in endometriosis and lead to non-surgical and non-hormonal treatment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10465338
- **Project number:** 1R01HD108895-01
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jae-Wook Jeong
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $612,857
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-30 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10465338

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10465338, Development of anti-inflammatory nanodrug for endometriosis treatment (1R01HD108895-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10465338. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*