Recent Progress and Advances of Multi-Stimuli-Responsive Dendrimers in Drug Delivery for Cancer Treatment.

Despite the fact that nanocarriers as drug delivery systems overcome the limitation of chemotherapy, the leakage of encapsulated drugs during the delivery process to the target site can still cause toxic effects to healthy cells in other tissues and organs in the body. Controlling drug release at the target site, responding to stimuli that originated from internal changes within the body, as well as stimuli manipulated by external sources has recently received significant attention. Owning to the spherical shape and porous structure, dendrimer is utilized as a material for drug delivery. Moreover, the surface region of dendrimer has various moieties facilitating the surface functionalization to develop the desired material. Therefore, multi-stimuli-responsive dendrimers or 'smart' dendrimers that respond to more than two stimuli will be an inspired attempt to achieve the site-specific release and reduce as much as possible the side effects of the drug. The aim of this review was to delve much deeper into the recent progress of multi-stimuli-responsive dendrimers in the delivery of anticancer drugs in addition to the major potential challenges.

Soy Lecithin-Derived Liposomal Delivery Systems: Surface Modification and Current Applications.

The development of natural phospholipids for nanostructured drug delivery systems has attracted much attention in the past decades. Lecithin that was derived from naturally occurring in soybeans (SL) has introduced some auspicious accomplishments to the drug carrying aspect, like effectual encapsulation, controlled release, and successful delivery of the curative factors to intracellular regions in which they procure these properties from their flexible physicochemical and biophysical properties, such as large aqueous center and biocompatible lipid, self-assembly, tunable properties, and high loading capacity. Despite the almost perfect properties as a drug carrier, liposome is known to be quite quickly eliminated from the body systems. The surface modification of liposomes has been investigated in many studies to overcome this drawback. In this review, we intensively discussed the surface-modified liposomes that enhancing the targeting, cellular uptake, and therapeutic response. Moreover, the recent applications of soy lecithin-derived liposome, focusing on cancer treatment, brain targeting, and vaccinology, are also summarized.

Partial Surface Modification of Low Generation Polyamidoamine Dendrimers: Gaining Insight into their Potential for Improved Carboplatin Delivery.

Carboplatin (CAR) is a second generation platinum-based compound emerging as one of the most widely used anticancer drugs to treat a variety of tumors. In an attempt to address its dose-limiting toxicity and fast renal clearance, several delivery systems (DDSs) have been developed for CAR. However, unsuitable size range and low loading capacity may limit their potential applications. In this study, PAMAM G3.0 dendrimer was prepared and partially surface modified with methoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG) for the delivery of CAR. The CAR/PAMAM G3.0@mPEG was successfully obtained with a desirable size range and high entrapment efficiency, improving the limitations of previous CAR-loaded DDSs. Cytocompatibility of PAMAM G3.0@mPEG was also examined, indicating that the system could be safely used. Notably, an in vitro release test and cell viability assays against HeLa, A549, and MCF7 cell lines indicated that CAR/PAMAM G3.0@mPEG could provide a sustained release of CAR while fully retaining its bioactivity to suppress the proliferation of cancer cells. These obtained results provide insights into the potential of PAMAM G3.0@mPEG dendrimer as an efficient delivery system for the delivery of a drug that has strong side effects and fast renal clearance like CAR, which could be a promising approach for cancer treatment.

Functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles and biomedical applications.

Since the first report in early 1990s, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have progressively attracted the attention of scientists due to their potential applications in physic, energy storage, imaging, and especially in biomedical engineering. Owning the unique physiochemical properties, such as highly porosity, large surface area and pore volume, functionalizable, tunable pore and particle sizes and biocompatibility, and high loading cavity, MSNs offer efficient encapsulation and then controlled release, and in some cases, intracellular delivery of bioactive molecules for biomedical applications. During the last decade, functionalized MSNs that show respond upon the surrounding stimulus changes, such as temperature, pH, redox, light, ultrasound, magnetic or electric fields, enzyme, redox, ROS, glucose, and ATP, or their combinations, have continuously revolutionized their potential applications in biomedical engineering. Therefore, this review focuses on discussion the recent fabrication of functionalized MSNs and their potential applications in drug delivery, therapeutic treatments, diagnostic imaging, and biocatalyst. In addition, some potential clinical applications and challenges will also be discussed.