pH-Sensitive Polymeric Micelles for Enhanced Intracellular Anti-cancer Drug Delivery

Abstract

Polyion complex (PIC) micelles are expected to be used as nanocarrier for drug delivery. The PIC micelles formed by cationic anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX) and poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(4-vinylbenzylphosphonate) (PEG-b-PVBP) (DOX@PNP) was prepared with different pH conditions and composition ratio of the mixture. DOX and PEG-b-PVBP were spontaneously self-assembled in aqueous solutions into nanoparticles with average size of 45-55 nm over the entire range of the compositions of the mixtures including stoichiometric electroneutral complexes. The DOX@PNP described here would be promising nanocarrier for anti-cancer drug delivery.

pH‐Sensitive stimulus‐responsive nanocarriers for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents

“…Kamimura et al 88 synthesized polyionic complex micelles from poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(4-vinylbenzylphosphonate) (PEG-b-PVBP) loaded with DOX as pH-sensitive nanocarriers (DOX@PNP). These self-assembled NPs (45–55 nm) overcame the premature drug release problem by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions between phosphonate groups of PEG-b-PVBP as hydrophobic segments and cationic DOX.…”

“…99 However, they have some limitations such as low encapsulation efficiency, too rapid a release rate of the drug, low storage stability and lack of tunable triggers for drug release. 100 As a result, several investigations have focused on enhancing liposome stability and circulation half-life, for example by surface modification, and assembly of layer-by-layer liposomal NPs (LBL-LNPs) 88 to improve targeting and drug release. pH-Sensitive liposomes including various pH-sensitive components have been designed to release the active contents from the inside the endosomes into the cytoplasm.…”

Real-Time Fluorescence Tracking of Gene Delivery via Multifunctional Nanocomposites

“…Although a lot of attention has been paid to the drug delivery with fluorescence imaging guidance, − not much research includes the fluorescence tracking of gene delivery. For the sake of real-time tracking of the gene delivery and transfection, fluorescence tags including fluorescent proteins, organic dyes, and nanoparticles (NPs) can be covalently labeled to the gene.…”

 Progress of Liposomal Nanohybrid Cerasomes as Novel Drug Nanocarriers

“…[2][3][4] To a certain extent, nano-DDS can solve many problems associated with drug molecules like low drug solubility, fast clearance rates, non-specific toxicity, thereby enhancing therapeutic efficiency and reducing side effects. [5,6] Common DDS include liposomes, [7][8][9] mesoporous silicon, [10][11][12] polymer micelles, [13][14][15] hydrogels. [16,17] Among them, liposomes have received widespread attention due to their biocompatibility, degradability and ability to encapsulate various drugs.…”