TY - JOUR
T1 - Micelles formed by polypeptide containing polymers synthesized via N-carboxy anhydrides and their application for cancer treatment
AU - Skoulas, Dimitrios
AU - Christakopoulos, Panagiotis
AU - Stavroulaki, Dimitra
AU - Santorinaios, Konstantinos
AU - Athanasiou, Varvara
AU - Iatrou, Hermis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors.
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - The development of multifunctional polymeric materials for biological applications is mainly guided by the goal of achieving the encapsulation of pharmaceutical compounds through a self-assembly process to form nanoconstructs that control the biodistribution of the active compounds, and therefore minimize systemic side effects. Micelles are formed from amphiphilic polymers in a selective solvent. In biological applications, micelles are formed in water, and their cores are loaded with hydrophobic pharmaceutics, where they are solubilized and are usually delivered through the blood compartment. Even though a large number of polymeric materials that form nanocarrier delivery systems has been investigated, a surprisingly small subset of these technologies has demonstrated potentially curative preclinical results, and fewer have progressed towards commercialization. One of the most promising classes of polymeric materials for drug delivery applications is polypeptides, which combine the properties of the conventional polymers with the 3D structure of natural proteins, i.e., α-helices and β-sheets. In this article, the synthetic pathways followed to develop well-defined polymeric micelles based on polypeptides prepared through ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of N-carboxy anhydrides are reviewed. Among these works, we focus on studies performed on micellar delivery systems to treat cancer. The review is limited to systems presented from 2000-2017.
AB - The development of multifunctional polymeric materials for biological applications is mainly guided by the goal of achieving the encapsulation of pharmaceutical compounds through a self-assembly process to form nanoconstructs that control the biodistribution of the active compounds, and therefore minimize systemic side effects. Micelles are formed from amphiphilic polymers in a selective solvent. In biological applications, micelles are formed in water, and their cores are loaded with hydrophobic pharmaceutics, where they are solubilized and are usually delivered through the blood compartment. Even though a large number of polymeric materials that form nanocarrier delivery systems has been investigated, a surprisingly small subset of these technologies has demonstrated potentially curative preclinical results, and fewer have progressed towards commercialization. One of the most promising classes of polymeric materials for drug delivery applications is polypeptides, which combine the properties of the conventional polymers with the 3D structure of natural proteins, i.e., α-helices and β-sheets. In this article, the synthetic pathways followed to develop well-defined polymeric micelles based on polypeptides prepared through ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of N-carboxy anhydrides are reviewed. Among these works, we focus on studies performed on micellar delivery systems to treat cancer. The review is limited to systems presented from 2000-2017.
KW - Biomaterials
KW - Biomedical applications
KW - Cancer
KW - Drug delivery
KW - Gene delivery
KW - Micelles
KW - Polypeptides
KW - Ring-opening polymerization of n-carboxy anhydrides
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85020256032&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym9060208
DO - 10.3390/polym9060208
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85020256032
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 9
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 6
M1 - 208
ER -