STAR POLYMER UNIMOLECUALR MICELLES FOR DRUG DELIVERY

将合成一种星星结构聚合物用作药物递送载体。该星星聚合物将由树枝状聚合物核和嵌段共聚物臂组成。臂中的内部嵌段是亲脂性聚合物，臂中的外部嵌段是亲水性聚合物。该星星聚合物在水溶液中形成单分子胶束。疏水性药物可以被包裹在单分子胶束中，并通过被动靶向过程递送到癌组织。长期目标是开发一种可用于抗癌化疗的通用药物载体。这种新的药物递送载体利用了嵌段共聚物胶束作为药物递送载体的开发工作中的优势，但通过共价键合胶束中的中心核来稳定胶束。第一阶段计划的具体目标是合成和表征目标星星聚合物，研究胶束性质并将模型药物包封在星星聚合物胶束中以证明可行性。第二阶段计划的目标将是开发结构优化的星星聚合物用于药物输送，并通过新的癌症治疗系统进行动物试验。建议的商业应用：大多数癌症治疗药物都有强烈的不良副作用。 利用这种提出的新的药物递送系统，通过“被动靶向”的更有选择性的靶向递送是可能的。这将减少不良副作用，使癌症治疗的化疗更有效。新的药物输送系统几乎对医学的每一个分支都产生了影响。美国先进药物输送系统的年销售额超过100亿美元，而且正在迅速增长。

A star structural polymer will be synthesized for use as a drug delivery vehicle. The star polymer will be composed of dendrimer core and block copolymer arms. The inner block in the arm is lipophilic polymer and the outer block in the arm is hydrophilic polymer. The star polymer will form unimolecular micelles at aqueous condition. Hydrophobic drugs can be encapsulated in the unimolecular micelles and delivered to the cancer tissue via a passive targeting process. The long-term objective is to develop a general drug delivery vehicle which can be used for anticancer chemotherapy. This new drug delivery vehicle takes the advantage in the developed work on block copolymer micelles as a drug delivery vehicle but stabilized the micelles by covalently bonding the center core in the micelles. The specific aims in the Phase I program are to synthesize and characterize the target star polymer, investigate the micelles properties and encapsulate a model drug in the star polymer micelles to demonstrate feasibility. The Phase II program objective will be to develop structural optimized star polymer for drug delivery and carry out animal testing by the new system for cancer treatment. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Most cancer treatment drugs have strong undesired side effects. With this proposed new drug delivery system, more selective targeted delivery by "passive targeting" is possible. This will reduce the undesired side effects and make chemotherapy for cancer treatment more efficient. New drug delivery systems have had an impact on nearly every branch of medicine. Annual sales in the United States of advanced drug delivery systems exceed $10 billion and are rising rapidly.