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Novel Barbed Microneedle Array-Mediated Dual-Drug Delivery for Thick Infantile Hemangiomas
Pei Wang1, Shih-Jen Chang1, Yajing Qiu1
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Advanced Healthcare Materials
|February 5, 2026
Summary
A new microneedle system delivers dual drugs for infantile hemangiomas (IHs). This therapy effectively reduces tumor volume and inhibits IH growth, offering a promising minimally invasive treatment option.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Dermatology
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) pose complications, especially thick lesions unresponsive to topical timolol due to poor skin penetration.
- Oral propranolol for IHs has limitations including systemic side effects and resistance.
- Current treatments for IHs require better drug delivery methods for efficacy and safety.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel barbed microneedle (MN) system for depth-specific dual-drug delivery to treat infantile hemangiomas.
- To combine bleomycin (BLM) for deep ablation and timolol (TM) for superficial vasoconstriction in a synergistic therapy (TM-BLM@MN).
- To evaluate the efficacy of the TM-BLM@MN system in vitro and in vivo for infantile hemangioma treatment.
Main Methods:
- Development of a barbed microneedle (MN) system for dual-drug delivery of bleomycin (BLM) and timolol (TM).
- In vitro assessment of TM-BLM@MN on hemangioma stem cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation.
- In vivo evaluation of TM-BLM@MN efficacy in reducing infantile hemangioma tumor volume and pathological angiogenesis.
Main Results:
- TM-BLM@MN demonstrated significant inhibition of hemangioma stem cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation in vitro.
- In vivo treatment with TM-BLM@MN resulted in a 1.93-fold greater reduction in tumor volume compared to controls.
- Histological analysis confirmed that TM-BLM@MN markedly suppressed pathological angiogenesis in infantile hemangiomas.
Conclusions:
- The novel barbed microneedle system (TM-BLM@MN) provides an effective depth-specific dual-drug delivery platform for infantile hemangiomas.
- This minimally invasive approach shows high efficacy for treating thick IH lesions.
- The TM-BLM@MN system holds significant potential for clinical translation and facilitating home-based therapy for IHs.
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