Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering , Peking University , Room 206, Fangzheng Building, 298 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871 , People's Republic of China.
Interface Focus. 2012 Jun 6;2(3):307-24. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2012.0009. Epub 2012 Mar 21.
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.
树状聚合物属于具有多种功能的支化材料，可通过定义明确的架构和化学结构进行构建。当通过外围化学基团用由肽和糖制成的生物活性配体进行修饰时，树状聚合物缀合物就变成了纳米材料，具有与同源受体的吸引力结合特性。在细胞水平上，生物活性树状聚合物缀合物可以与细胞以高亲和力和选择性相互作用，这一功能尤其激发了人们对研究树状聚合物材料的靶向潜力以设计药物递送系统的兴趣。此外，生物活性树状聚合物缀合物迄今为止因其增强各种类型治疗药物的稳定性、溶解度和吸收的多功能能力而得到研究。本综述简要讨论了使用肽和糖缀合的树状聚合物进行药物递送的三个方面的最新研究进展：（i）合成方法，（ii）细胞和组织靶向特性以及（iii）缀合树状聚合物在药物递送纳米器件中的应用。随着更多的研究阐明配体-树状聚合物缀合物在输送药物方面的结构-功能关系，缀合树状聚合物有望促进靶向递药并提高药物功效，从而促进现代药剂学的发现和发展。
