Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
reported that self-targeting polymersomes based on poly(c-benzyl L -glutamate)-
b-hyaluronan could deliver DOX to CD44 overexpressing cells and suppress
tumor growth in vivo. 58,59
6.6 Conclusion and Perspectives
The past decade has witnessed rapid progress in the design, preparation, and
controlled drug delivery applications of polymersomes. With enhanced
stability and remarkable chemical versatility, polymersomes have emerged as
an advanced alternative to widely applied liposomes. It remains a challenge,
however, to produce polymersomes with precisely controlled physicochemical
properties (including vesicle size, surface, shape, membrane thickness,
permeability, etc.), which are of utmost importance to their practical
applications. Moreover, polymersomes will in particular play a pivotal role
in targeted intracellular delivery of hydrophilic pharmaceutics and biophar-
maceutics, including anticancer drugs, proteins, and nucleic acids, as well as in
combination cancer therapy in which targeted delivery of two or more reagents
using one single vehicle brings about synergistic treatment effects (e.g. for
recurrent or resistant tumors). The current polymersomes for drug delivery
applications, however, encounter several challenges, including cumbersome
polymersome preparation procedures (e.g. often involving organic solvent),
low drug loading content and loading efficiency, inferior in vivo specificity,
and/or an uncontrolled drug release profile. In the future, more effort should
be directed to the development of novel multifunctional biocompatible
polymersomes that are preferably formed directly in water, have high drug
loading levels, are stable in circulation, have programmed biodegradability in
vivo, and preferentially accumulate and release drugs at the targeted sites in a
controlled manner.
d n 4 y 3 n g | 4
Acknowledgements
This work is financially supported by research grants from the National
Natural
Science
Foundation
of
China
(NSFC
51173126,
20974073,
and
50973078),
and
a
Project
Funded
by
the
Priority
Academic
Program
Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.
References
1. B. M. Discher, Y. Y. Won, D. S. Ege, J. C. M. Lee, F. S. Bates,
D. E. Discher and D. A. Hammer, Science, 1999, 284, 1143-1146.
2. D. E. Discher and A. Eisenberg, Science, 2002, 297, 967-973.
3. G. Battaglia and A. J. Ryan, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 8757-8764.
4. L. B. Luo and A. Eisenberg, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2001, 123, 1012-1013.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search