Peptide- and saccharide-conjugated dendrimers for targeted drug delivery: a concise review

Abstract

Dendrimers comprise a category of branched materials with diverse functions that can be constructed with defined architectural and chemical structures. When decorated with bioactive ligands made of peptides and saccharides through peripheral chemical groups, dendrimer conjugates are turned into nanomaterials possessing attractive binding properties with the cognate receptors. At the cellular level, bioactive dendrimer conjugates can interact with cells with avidity and selectivity, and this function has particularly stimulated interests in investigating the targeting potential of dendrimer materials for the design of drug delivery systems. In addition, bioactive dendrimer conjugates have so far been studied for their versatile capabilities to enhance stability, solubility and absorption of various types of therapeutics. This review presents a brief discussion on three aspects of the recent studies to use peptide-and saccharide-conjugated dendrimers for drug delivery: (i) synthesis methods, (ii) cell-and tissue-targeting properties and (iii) applications of conjugated dendrimers in drug delivery nanodevices. With more studies to elucidate the structure-function relationship of ligand-dendrimer conjugates in transporting drugs, the conjugated dendrimers hold promise to facilitate targeted delivery and improve drug efficacy for discovery and development of modern pharmaceutics.

Association of the anti-tuberculosis drug rifampicin with a PAMAM dendrimer

“…conformation is usually strongly dependent on pH conditions), and surface functional groups that could possibly discriminate biological targets and enhance drug solubility. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] The poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are the first and most extensively studied family of dendrimers. [44] Figure 1b depicts the threedimensional structure of a model of a 4 th -generation PAMAM (G4-PAMAM).…”

Functionalized dendrimer-based delivery of angiotensin type 1 receptor siRNA for preserving cardiac function following infarction

“…The drop in zeta-potential of R9 dendrimer particles is probably due to the smaller N/P ratio required by this material (40 for R9 dendrimer vs. 60 for unmodified or TAT dendrimer). Though numbers of studies have reported the toxicity of cationic PAMAM [31], no adverse effect from tadpole dendrimers in metabolic activity was detected in primary cardiomyocytes by MTT (Supplemental Figure 2), implying decreased cytotoxicity after modification. These results are consistent with studies showing that reducing the charge on PAMAM via modification results in reduced toxicity [25, 32].…”

Targeted drug delivery potential of hydrogel biocomposites containing partially and thermally reduced graphene oxide and natural polymers prepared via green process

“…It has been found to exhibit several advantages such as controlled release of the drug at a target organ and reduction of side effect associated with the drug; it minimizes the access of the drug to normal organs, thereby reducing the toxic effects, and the drug concentration to the required organs can be increased without harmful effects on other organs. Different types of delivery carriers used in targeted drug delivery systems are dendrimers [21], liposomes [22], polymeric micelles [23], and biodegradable particles [24]. Presently few drug delivery systems have been developed which have potential for treatment of diabetes [25], cancer [26], heart diseases [27], and rheumatoid arthritis [28].…”