Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems composed of amphiphilic block and hyperbranched copolymers

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The application of nanotechnology to drugs, referred to as "nanomedicines" has a high potential for technological and conceptual breakthroughs. The development of nano-sized drug delivery systems will ultimately allow us to target selected cells or tissues within the body and control the release of drug at that site, resulting in greater safety and effectiveness of the administered drug. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop novel, tumor site-directed nanoparticles for the local treatment of disease with either chemotherapeutic agents or cell-killing by heat. Our initial focus will be the synthesis, preparation and characterization of nanoparticles made of tissue-compatible polymers and loaded with the anticancer drugs, paclitaxel and cisplatin, for potential application in bladder cancer. Most patients with this cancer have superficial disease, affecting just the surface lining of the bladder wall. Current chemotherapy treatments using drugs instilled directly into the bladder are not very effective because the contact time of the drug with the bladder wall is only about 2 hours, before voiding occurs. We believe that modifying the surfaces of the drug nanoparticles with tissue-adhering groups should prolong the contact time, increase uptake of drug into the tissue, increase effectiveness and potentially decrease unwanted side effects. We have assembled an outstanding team of collaborators who will develop, for example, nanoparticles that can co-deliver two drugs and nanoparticles with a gold coating that can be irradiated with light of a certain wavelength and will heat up and kill cancer cells.