Polymeric biomaterials for cancer nanotechnology
Jianjun Cheng and Suzie H. Pun introduce this themed issue of Biomaterials Science on polymeric biomaterials for cancer nanotechnology
Engineering DNA scaffolds for delivery of anticancer therapeutics
DNA scaffolds with programmability in size, shape and surface chemistry have been engineered for the delivery of various anticancer therapeutics.
Cyclodextrin-functionalized polymers as drug carriers for cancer therapy
This mini-review highlights the recent progress in cyclodextrin-functionalized polymers as drug carriers for cancer therapy.
Drug and gene co-delivery systems for cancer treatment
Nano-delivery system has been widely studied and applied in cancer treatment over the past few decades. By taking advantage of both the drug and gene therapy, a growing number of co-delivery systems have been explored for cancer treatment recently.
Recent advances in targeted drug delivery approaches using dendritic polymers
Synthesis of dendrimers and their modified nanoparticles.
Review Article
Polymeric biomaterials for the delivery of platinum-based anticancer drugs
This review discusses the recent research trends in the polymeric delivery systems for platinum-based anticancer drugs.
Emerging antitumor applications of extracellularly reengineered polymeric nanocarriers
The review gives a comprehensive summary and preliminary forecast of the extracellularly stimuli-mediated shell-sheddable polymeric nanocarriers for antitumor applications.
Shape control in engineering of polymeric nanoparticles for therapeutic delivery
This review discusses methods for generating polymer nanoparticles with controlled shapes and identifies key effects of shape in biological systems.
Trigger responsive polymeric nanocarriers for cancer therapy
Strategies for the development of polymeric nanocarriers responsive to different internal and external triggers modulating the drug release in a tumor environment, are reviewed.
Supramolecular hydrogels: synthesis, properties and their biomedical applications
The recent progress in synthesis, properties and biomedical applications of supramolecular hydrogels has been reviewed.
Review Article
Lipid-coated polymeric nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery
This review discusses the recent advancements and future directions in the application of lipid-coated polymeric nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery.
Drug-free macromolecular therapeutics – a new paradigm in polymeric nanomedicines
This review highlights an exciting new field of polymeric nanomedicine research – drug-free macromolecular therapeutics for cell apoptosis induction.
Redox-responsive self-assembled chain-shattering polymeric therapeutics
A trigger responsive polymeric therapeutics with defined composition, controlled formulation and release profile, and excellent therapeutic response.
Near-infrared light-triggered drug release nanogels for combined photothermal-chemotherapy of cancer
Near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered drug release polymeric nanogels were fabricated based on host–guest interaction and were explored to encapsulate indocyanine green (ICG) and doxorubicin (DOX) for combined photothermal-chemotherapy of cancer.
Reductively degradable α-amino acid-based poly(ester amide)-graft-galactose copolymers: facile synthesis, self-assembly, and hepatoma-targeting doxorubicin delivery
Multifunctional nanoparticles mediate specific and efficient intracellular doxorubicin delivery to asialoglycoprotein receptor-overexpressing hepatoma cells.
Mixing-sequence-dependent nucleic acid complexation and gene transfer efficiency by polyethylenimine
Determining roles of the mixing sequence in nucleic acid/cationic polymer polyplex preparation are reported with experimental characterization and a theoretical model.
Balancing polymer hydrophobicity for ligand presentation and siRNA delivery in dual function CXCR4 inhibiting polyplexes
Dual-function polycations capable of simultaneously antagonizing CXCR4 receptors and delivering anti-PLK1 siRNA to achieve combination anticancer effect.
A block copolymer of zwitterionic polyphosphoester and polylactic acid for drug delivery
Zwitterionic polyphosphoester containing polymers are synthesized and evaluated as an alternative to poly(ethylene glycol) block copolymers for anticancer drug delivery.
Paper
Enhanced tumor-targeted gene delivery by bioreducible polyethylenimine tethering EGFR divalent ligands
This work demonstrates successful delivery of a gene to EGFR-overexpressed cancer cells by using a rationally designed branched GE11 peptide as a targeting ligand.
Well-defined diblock brush polymer–drug conjugates for sustained delivery of paclitaxel
The synthesis, characterization and property studies of paclitaxel (PTXL)-containing brush polymer–drug conjugates (BPDCs) are presented and the influence of grafting structures of BPDCs on their assembly behaviour, drug release profile and therapeutic effects is discussed in this article.
Polymeric assembly of hyperbranched building blocks to establish tunable nanoplatforms for lysosome acidity-responsive gene/drug co-delivery
A pH-reversible polymeric assembly approach was developed to build tunable nanoplatforms, based on the boronate-linked assembly between hyperbranched building blocks.
Enhanced transcellular penetration and drug delivery by crosslinked polymeric micelles into pancreatic multicellular tumor spheroids
The penetration of HPMA-based micelles into multicellular tumor spheroids depends on transcellular transport from peripheral to inner cells. Stabilisation by crosslinking facilitated the penetration.
About this collection
This themed issue on polymeric biomaterials for cancer nanotechnology is Guest Edited by Jianjun Cheng (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and Suzie Pun (University of Washington, USA).
Polymeric biomaterials have been extensively used in nanomedicine formulations for cancer therapy. Preclinical and clinical studies have in general revealed that polymeric nanocarriers, when used for chemotherapeutic drug delivery, reduce systemic toxicity and thus mitigate adverse side effects of the drug. In order to continue and even improve on the clinical progress of polymeric anticancer drug formulations, new innovations and discoveries are being made in the following areas: (i) expanding the available suite of polymeric biomaterials that can be reproducibly and controllably manufactured at a suitable scale, (ii) designing carriers with improved biodistribution to tumor sites, (iii) increasing tumor distribution and penetration of polymeric nanocarriers, and (iv) controlling efficient drug release at a desired location and with optimal kinetics. This themed issue contains reviews and research articles in each of these areas. In addition, new advances in polymeric nanobiomaterials for both small molecule chemotherapeutics and anticancer nucleic acids are included.