Current advances in research and clinical applications of PLGA-based nanotechnology

Abstract

Co-polymer poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanotechnology has been developed for many years and has been approved by the US FDA for the use of drug delivery, diagnostics and other applications of clinical and basic science research, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, vaccine and tissue engineering. This article presents the more recent successes of applying PLGA-based nanotechnologies and tools in these medicine-related applications. It focuses on the possible mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment effects of PLGA preparations and devices. This updated

PLGA-Based Nanoparticles as Cancer Drug Delivery Systems

“…The w/o/w method is best suited to encapsulate water-soluble drugs, like peptides, proteins and vaccines, whereas the o/w method is perfect for water-insoluble drugs, such as steroids (Jain, 2000;Lü et al, 2009). In some cases, solid/ oil/water (s/o/w) techniques have been used with PLGAbased microspheres, specially for a higher drug loading of large water-soluble peptides, such as insulin (Zambaux et al, 1998;Lü et al, 2009). In o/w method, the polymer is dissolved in an organic solvent such as dichloromethane, chloroform or ethyl acetate.…”

“…General catalysts used in the preparation of this copolymer includes tin (II) 2-ethylhexanoate, tin (II) alkoxides or aluminum isopropoxide. During polymerization, consecutive monomeric units (glycolic or lactic acid) are linked together in PLGA by ester linkages, so yielding a linear, amorphous aliphatic polyester products (Astete and Sabliov, 2006;Lü et al, 2009). The forms of PLGA are usually recognized by the monomers ratio used.…”

“…2009), in addition to ease of processing the nanoparticle delivery systems are attractive because they target tumors and increase the tumor accumulation of anticancer agents in tumor cells more than in healthy tissues Lü et al, 2009). From a broader perspective in medicine, nanoparticle have been used in specific applications such as tissue engineered scaffolds and devices, site specific drug delivery systems, cancer therapy and clinical bioanalytical diagnostics and therapeutics (van Vlerken and Amiji, 2006;Vasir and Labhasetwar, 2007;Liu et al, 2007;Mahapatro and Singh, 2011).…”

“…Polymers may be linear, branched or globular, and their size can be firmly controlled. Polyamides, poly (amino acids), poly (alkyl-α-cyano acrylates), polyesters, poly orthoesters, polyurethanes and polyacrylamides have been used to set up different drug-loaded devices (Jain, 2000;Lü et al, 2009;Panyam and Labhasetwar, 2012) between them, the thermoplastic aliphatic polyesters, like polylactic acid, poly glycolic acid and specially the copolymer poly (lactic co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), have a long history of use as biomaterials because of their exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability. (Studer et al, 2005;Wickline et al, 2007;Lü et al, 2009).…”

“…Polyamides, poly (amino acids), poly (alkyl-α-cyano acrylates), polyesters, poly orthoesters, polyurethanes and polyacrylamides have been used to set up different drug-loaded devices (Jain, 2000;Lü et al, 2009;Panyam and Labhasetwar, 2012) between them, the thermoplastic aliphatic polyesters, like polylactic acid, poly glycolic acid and specially the copolymer poly (lactic co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), have a long history of use as biomaterials because of their exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability. (Studer et al, 2005;Wickline et al, 2007;Lü et al, 2009). Langer and Folkman were the first to demonstrate the controlled release of macromolecules via polymers, which facilitated the development of antiangiogenic drug delivery systems for cancer therapy and opened up novel areas for the delivery of macromolecules (Langer and Folkman, 1976;Dinarvand et al, 2011).…”