Nanomedicine Drug-Delivery Simulator

Drug-Delivery Nanoparticles

Nanoparticle count 70

Blood-flow speed 1.6

Targeting accuracy 0.55

Circulating

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Bound to tumor

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Drug payloads delivered

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How it works

Nanoparticle drug carriers (10–200 nm) circulate with the bloodstream and are too large to leak out through the tight junctions of healthy blood vessels. Tumor vasculature, grown quickly and haphazardly, is different: its walls are full of gaps, and tumors lack functional lymphatic drainage. Nanoparticles that reach this leaky vasculature slip through and accumulate — and, lacking drainage, stay there. This passive accumulation is the EPR effect (enhanced permeability and retention).

C_tumor(t) = C_blood · (1 − e^(−k·t))
k ∝ pore size · residence time
P_bind = accuracy · exp(−d / λ)   (per encounter, ligand↔receptor)

Passive accumulation alone is not selective enough, so carriers are also coated with ligands that fit specific receptors overexpressed on the cancer cell surface — a "key-lock" recognition step. Only a carrier that both reaches the leaky zone and matches the receptor releases its payload; a healthy cell nearby, lacking that receptor, is simply passed by untouched.

Nanoparticle count — how many carriers are in circulation at once; more carriers mean more chances to encounter the tumor per second.
Blood-flow speed — how fast carriers move through the vessel; faster flow means shorter dwell time near the tumor and fewer successful binding attempts.
Targeting accuracy — how well the carrier's surface ligand matches the tumor's receptor; higher accuracy sharply raises the binding probability once a carrier is in range.
EPR leaky zone — toggles the highlighted patch of leaky tumor vasculature where carriers can actually reach the cell surface.

Real-world relevance: this two-stage mechanism — passive EPR accumulation plus active receptor targeting — is exactly how clinical nanomedicines like liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil) and antibody-targeted nanoparticles concentrate chemotherapy in a tumor while sparing healthy tissue from systemic side effects.

Nanoparticle carrier Bound / delivering Cancer cell (receptors) Healthy cell

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