Recent Developments in Bioresponsive Drug Delivery Systems
Deepa H. Patel in Bioresponsive Polymers, 2020
But the FDA approved more macromolecular drugs and drug delivery systems than small molecules as new medicines in 2002 and 2003, which suggests that the tide has turned. In the 21st century, the time is ripe to build on lessons learned over the past few decades, and with the increased efforts of polymer chemists working in multidisciplinary teams, this will surely lead to the design of improved second-generation polymer therapeutics. The polymer community’s interest in synthetic and supramolecular chemistry applied to biomedical applications has never been greater. This has in part been driven by a rise in interest toward using dendrimers and nano-tubes for applications in drug delivery and the need for bioresponsive polymers that can be designed as three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering. Innovative polymer synthesis is leading to many new materials, but although they provide exciting opportunities, they also present challenges for careful characterization of biological and physicochemical characterization. For clinical use, it is essential to identify biocompatible synthetic polymers that will not be harmful in relation to their route, dose, and frequency of administration.
Conclusion and Afterword
Danilo D. Lasic in LIPOSOMES in GENE DELIVERY, 2019
From the physicochemical aspect I can remind researchers that they may inadvertently work in the field of supramolecular chemistry. It is well known experimentally and theoretically (see Equation 3-3) that single-valent cations cannot condense DNA because due to entropy they cannot shield the required ≃90% of the DNA charge which induces its self-collapse, i.e., DNA condensation. However, a self-assembly of univalent cations that is not based on covalent forces actually acts as a multivalent species and can effectively condense DNA. Futhermore, due to lipid properties, such as size of molecules and self-organization behavior, this assembly even dictates, over DNA, its own symmetry into the complex, lamellar as opposed to hexagonal or, perhaps, random (“amorphous”) self-collapse, as shown in Figure 1.
Nanomedicine(s) under the Microscope *
Valerio Voliani in Nanomaterials and Neoplasms, 2021
Largely for purposes of safety regulation there is an ongoing global debate as to what really constitutes “nanomaterial”? Many core academic and industrial/regulatory sectors suggest size thresholds and/or material characteristics relevant to their own interests. The complexities of this debate are beyond the scope of this review; however, we concur with the opinion that none of the popular size thresholds (e.g., 1–100 nm) can be scientifically justified in the context of a broad definition that adequately captures all nanomaterials [10]. Moreover, it is important to reemphasize that nanosized objects fabricated by “top-down” miniaturization/engineering techniques or “bottom-up” colloidal, synthetic, or supramolecular chemistry techniques have equal importance in the context of innovative nanomedicines.
Self-assembling peptides-based nano-cargos for targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy of tumors: recent developments, challenges, and future perspectives
Published in Drug Delivery, 2022
Xue-Jun Wang, Jian Cheng, Le-Yi Zhang, Jun-Gang Zhang
Peptides are amino acid chains made up of about 50 amino acids that are simple to produce and are even designed to mimic the self-assembly (SA) characteristics of proteins. Peptides have outstanding chemical diversity, high biocompatibility, and biological recognition capabilities. Furthermore, small peptides can translocate cell membranes but do not elicit an immunological response (Wang et al., 2019). Though, free peptides are usually unstable and undergo rapid degradation during the body's blood circulation, resulting in an off-target effect (Yang et al., 2018). Consequently, the elegant nanotechnology of the SA approach for modifying peptides and building stable and multifunctional nanomaterials has been developed in recent years specifically for tumor therapy (Yuan et al., 2019). SA is a necessary bottom-up method of construction in the toolkit of current nanotechnology. Today, SA is a growing field of research that incorporates concepts from supramolecular chemistry as well as contributions from chemistry, biology physics, and engineering. Notably, self-assembled materials have a wide range of applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, electronics, and nanotechnology (Whitesides et al., 1991; Lehn, 2002).
Recent development and biomedical applications of self-healing hydrogels
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2018
Yinan Wang, Christian K. Adokoh, Ravin Narain
Alternatively, hydrogels manufactured by non-covalent supramolecular chemistry or reversible covalent cross-linking (Figure 1) that allows materials self-mending damages intrinsically and automatically, while restoring/regaining their original mechanical properties after healing have received significant attentions in the past decades. Healing at a damage site of hydrogels could be initialized by various driving force such as reconstructive covalent dangling side chain or non-covalent hydrogen bonding, thermally reversible reactions, ionomeric arrangements, or molecular interactions and entanglement [6]. Although several self-healing hydrogels have been prepared and evaluated for their potential applications in biomedical fields [7–12], tremendous works are still required before these materials could eventually go to the clinics, mostly because of the complicated preparation of the material, selection of suitable guest molecules, and improving self-healing efficacy in the presence of water [13]. An ideal self-healing hydrogel material should be able to intrinsically fast heal at the damage site under physiological conditions, while its mechanical properties are fully restored and tuned for different applications.
A pH-responsive complex based on supramolecular organic framework for drug-resistant breast cancer therapy
Published in Drug Delivery, 2022
Yun-Chang Zhang, Pei-Yu Zeng, Zhi-Qiang Ma, Zi-Yue Xu, Ze-Kun Wang, Beibei Guo, Feng Yang, Zhan-Ting Li
In recent decades, supramolecular chemistry and self-assembly strategies have attracted more and more attention (Liu et al., 2012; Zhao et al., 2014; Jiang et al., 2016; Ashwanikumar et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2018; Zhang & Zhang, 2019; Li et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2021). Supramolecular systems have multifunctional and dynamic regulation properties, and supramolecular components can reversibly change shape and structure according to changes in the external environment to control the release of embedded drugs (Stoffelen & Huskens, 2015; Putaux et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2021). Thus, supramolecular self-assembly has become a potential strategy for the development of new drug delivery methods. Recently, our team has developed a three-dimensional supramolecular organic framework in an aqueous atmosphere with a self-assembly strategy, which utilized hydrophobically driven encapsulation of the dimers formed by aromatic units by the cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) ring (Tian et al., 2014). In particular, the SOFs with well-defined pores had great potential in adsorbing and releasing drugs (Tian et al., 2016; 2017; Yao et al., 2017). In order to achieve efficient and controlled release, various stimuli-responsive (such as pH) techniques have been developed in the past decade (Zhang et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2020; Li et al., 2021). Therefore, it is of great scientific and clinical interest to explore new responsive SOFs for the construction of drug delivery systems.
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