Topological Aspects of the Design of Nanocarriers for Therapeutic Peptides and Proteins

Abstract

Supramolecular chemistry holds great potential for the design of versatile and safe carriers for therapeutic proteins and peptides. Nanocarriers can be designed to meet specific criteria for given application (exact drug, administration route, target tissue, etc.). However, alterations in the topology of formulation components can drastically change their activity. This is why the supramolecular topology of therapeutic nanoconstructions has to be considered. Herein, we discuss several topological groups used for the design of nanoformulations for peptide and protein delivery: modification of polypeptide chains by host-guest interactions; packaging of proteins and peptides into liposomes; complexation and conjugation with dendrimers. Each topological type has its own advantages and disadvantages, so careful design of nanoformulations is needed. Ideally, each case where nanomedicine is needed requires a therapeutic construction specially created for that taking into account features of the administration route, target tissue, or organ, properties of a drug, its bioavailability, etc. The wide number of studies in the field of protein delivery by supramolecular and nanocarriers for proteins and peptides evidence their increasing potential for different aspects of the innovative medicine. Although significant progress has been achieved in the field, there are several remaining challenges to be overcome in future.

Nanoscale Self-Assembly for Therapeutic Delivery

“…Criteria for the designing of a new delivery vehicle are highly dependent on the therapeutics to be delivered and intended applications. Some of the common points, that are kept in mind while designing these vectors, are given below (Yu et al, 2016;Knauer et al, 2019).…”

Recent Progress and Advances of Multi-Stimuli-Responsive Dendrimers in Drug Delivery for Cancer Treatment

“…Surface modification in dendrimers involves using dendrimers with functional groups to engineer, disguise the cationic charges, and adapt them into biocompatible dendrimers [24]. This concept has been supported by PEGylation, folate, and peptide conjugation which involve neutralization of charges in the dendrimers surfaces [51,52,53,54,55,56,57]. However, surface functionalization of dendrimers through attachment of molecules is the most common approach [58].…”

pH-Sensitive Dendrimersomes of Hybrid Triazine-Carbosilane Dendritic Amphiphiles-Smart Vehicles for Drug Delivery

“…Dendritic molecules, dendrimers and dendrons, are versatile platforms to design supramolecular nanoconstructions for robust drug delivery [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. In particular, carbosilane dendrimers are efficient tools for antibacterial [ 9 ] and antiviral therapy [ 10 ], nucleic acid delivery [ 11 ], cancer treatment [ 12 ], imaging [ 13 ], functional nanomaterials [ 14 , 15 ], and so on.…”