For decades, covalent organic frameworks
(COFs) have attracted
wide biomedical interest due to their unique properties including
ease of synthesis, porosity, and adjustable biocompatibility. Versatile
COFs can easily encapsulate various therapeutic drugs due to their
extremely high payload and porosity. COFs with abundant functional
groups can be surface-modified to achieve active targeting and enhance
biocompatibility. In this paper, the latest developments of COFs in
the biomedical field are summarized. First, the classification and
synthesis of COFs are discussed. Cancer diagnosis and treatment based
on COFs are studied, and the advantages and limitations of each method
are discussed. Second, the specific preparation methods to obtain
specific therapeutic properties are summarized. Finally, based on
the combination and modification of COFs with various components,
this review system summarizes different combination therapies. In
addition, the main challenges faced in COF research and prospects
for applying COFs to cancer diagnosis and treatment are evaluated.
This review provides enlightening insights into the interdisciplinary
research on COFs and applications in biomedicine, which highlight
the great expectations for their further clinical transformation.
Timely restoration of blood supply after myocardial ischemia is imperative for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction but causes additional myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury, which has not been hitherto effectively targeted by interventions for MI/R injury. Hence, the development of advanced nanomedicine that can reduce apoptosis of cardiomyocytes while protecting against MI/R in vivo is of utmost importance. Herein, a redox‐responsive and emissive TPE‐ss covalent organic framework (COF) nanocarrier by integrating aggregation‐induced emission luminogens and redox‐responsive disulfide motifs into the COF skeleton is developed. TPE‐ss COF allows for efficient loading and delivery of matrine, a renowned anti‐cryptosporidial drug, which significantly reduces MI/R‐induced functional deterioration and cardiomyocyte injury when injected through the tail vein into MI/R models at 5 min after 30 min of ischemia. Moreover, TPE‐ss COF@Matrine shows a drastic reduction in cardiomyocyte apoptosis and improvements in cardiac function and survival rate. The effect of the TPE‐ss COF carrier is further elucidated by enhanced cardiomyocyte viability and triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining in vitro. This work demonstrates the cardioprotective effect of TPE‐ss COFs for MI/R injury, which unleashes the immense potential of using COFs as smart drug carriers for the peri‐reperfusion treatment of ischemic heart disease with low cost, high stability, and single postoperative intervention.
With the development of biotherapeutic field, biomacromolecules with definite curative and small side effects have gradually become a hot spot in the research and development of new drugs. However, the use of biomacromolecules as drug candidates pose some technical difficulties related to their medicinal properties, mainly drug stability and in vivo transport and delivery. Currently, diverse nanodrug delivery systems have been used to deliver biomacromolecules because they can maintain stability, significantly increase bioavailability, and improve targeted distribution of biomacromolecules, thereby improving efficacy and reducing toxicity. In recent years, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted increasing interest as stable, efficient, and reusable biomacromolecule immobilization carriers. COFs exhibit good stability and biocompatibility with no biological toxicity, making them outstanding host materials for immobilizing biomacromolecules. However, the synthesis of COFs requires severe experimental conditions; the commonly used strategies for immobilizing biomacromolecules in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), such as biomimetic mineralization, one-pot synthesis, and coprecipitation, are likely not applicable to COFs. Herein, three strategies for immobilizing biomacromolecules in COFs and the multifunctional biomedical applications of the biomacromolecule@COF composite systems are reviewed. Next, the superior properties and cutting-edge applications of MOFs are mentioned and then the advantages of COF-MOF hybrid materials are highlighted.
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