Multiresponsive Nanogels for Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery

Abstract

Nanogels with a biomolecular coating (biocoating) were shown to be capable of triggered delivery of anticancer drug Doxorubicin. The biocoating was formed utilizing binding between glycogen and the tetra-functional lectin Concanavalin A, which can be triggered to disassemble (and release) upon exposure to glucose and changes in solution pH. We also show the nanogel's thermoresponsivity can be used to accelerate Doxorubicin release. Moreover, we showed that transferrin immobilized on the nanogel surface could accelerate nanogel uptake by cancer cells. In these experiments, we showed that Doxorubicin was able to be released to the nucleus of human liver cancer cell line (HepG2) within 3 h. Doxorubicin-loaded nanogels exhibit a strong growth inhibition ability toward HepG2. This investigation showcases how nanogel design and chemistry can be tuned to achieve useful biomedical applications.

Nanocarriers as Magic Bullets in the Treatment of Leukemia

“…Moreover, their high water content and living tissue-like physical properties ensure high biocompatibility. Nanogels meant as anticancer drug delivery systems have been recently designed [52,53].…”

Thermoresponsive Nanogels Based on Different Polymeric Moieties for Biomedical Applications

“…Thermosensitive [ 61 ], pH-sensitive [ 62 , 63 ], glucose-sensitive [ 64 ], redox-sensitive [ 65 ], and magnetic-field-sensitive [ 66 ] nanogels are applicable to the treatment of many diseases ( Figure 3 ). Furthermore, nanogels can be tailored as dual or multi-responsive structures [ 42 , 67 ]. Deng et al explored the synthesis and properties of poly (N,N-dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate -g- Ethylene glycol) P(DMAEMA-g-EG) nanogel carriers with 190–600 nm diameters, which showed pH, ionic strength and temperature sensitivity with LCSTs of about 35 °C [ 68 ].…”

“…Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have the potential to induce enhanced permeability [ 40 , 41 ]. In addition, targeted delivery enables selective delivery of the drug to the diseased tissue while leaving the healthy tissue unharmed [ 42 ]. Despite the numerous advantages of nanocarriers for drug delivery, there are some challenges to be tackled, including difficulty of synthesis, low stability, and the circulation time of nanocarriers in blood circulation.…”

Functional Microgels: Recent Advances in Their Biomedical Applications

“…Zhang et al developed transferrin immobilized PNIPAM‐based microgels for targeted delivery of DOX . The surface of nanogels was coated using glycogen and the tetrafunctional lectin Concanavalin A which can disassemble in the presence of glucose and variation in pH.…”

“…[157] Zhang et al developed transferrin immobilized PNIPAMbased microgels for targeted delivery of DOX. [158] The surface of nanogels was coated using glycogen and the tetrafunctional lectin Concanavalin A which can disassemble in the presence of glucose and variation in pH. The experiments with HepG2 cells showed that tranferrin played an important role in accelerating the nanogel uptake by cancer cells as compared to the nanogels without transferrin.…”