College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
Arch Pharm Res. 2018 Jun;41(6):571-582. doi: 10.1007/s12272-018-1008-4. Epub 2018 Feb 15.
Dendrimers offer well-defined nanoarchitectures with spherical shape, high degree of molecular uniformity, and multiple surface functionalities. Such unique structural properties of dendrimers have created many applications for drug and gene delivery, nanomedicine, diagnostics, and biomedical engineering. Dendrimers are not only capable of delivering drugs or diagnostic agents to desired sites by encapsulating or conjugating them to the periphery, but also have therapeutic efficacy in their own. When compared to traditional polymers for drug delivery, dendrimers have distinct advantages, such as high drug-loading capacity at the surface terminal for conjugation or interior space for encapsulation, size control with well-defined numbers of peripheries, and multivalency for conjugation to drugs, targeting moieties, molecular sensors, and biopolymers. This review focuses on recent applications of dendrimers for the development of dendrimer-based nanomedicines for cancer, inflammation, and viral infection. Although dendrimer-based nanomedicines still face some challenges including scale-up production and well-characterization, several dendrimer-based drug candidates are expected to enter clinical development phase in the near future.
树状聚合物具有球形的明确纳米结构、高度的分子均一性和多种表面功能。树状聚合物的这些独特结构特性为药物和基因传递、纳米医学、诊断和生物医学工程创造了许多应用。树状聚合物不仅能够通过将药物或诊断剂包裹或连接到其外围来将其递送到所需的部位，而且本身也具有治疗效果。与传统的药物传递聚合物相比，树状聚合物具有明显的优势，例如在表面末端进行共轭或内部空间进行包裹时具有高载药量、通过明确的外围数量进行尺寸控制、以及通过共轭到药物、靶向部分、分子传感器和生物聚合物来实现多价性。本综述重点介绍了树状聚合物在癌症、炎症和病毒感染的树状聚合物基纳米医学发展方面的最新应用。尽管基于树状聚合物的纳米医学仍面临一些挑战，包括扩大生产和充分表征，但预计在不久的将来，一些基于树状聚合物的药物候选物将进入临床开发阶段。
