Peptide- and saccharide-conjugated dendrimers for targeted drug delivery: a concise review

Abstract

Dendrimers comprise a category of branched materials with diverse functions that can be constructed with defined architectural and chemical structures. When decorated with bioactive ligands made of peptides and saccharides through peripheral chemical groups, dendrimer conjugates are turned into nanomaterials possessing attractive binding properties with the cognate receptors. At the cellular level, bioactive dendrimer conjugates can interact with cells with avidity and selectivity, and this function has particularly stimulated interests in investigating the targeting potential of dendrimer materials for the design of drug delivery systems. In addition, bioactive dendrimer conjugates have so far been studied for their versatile capabilities to enhance stability, solubility and absorption of various types of therapeutics. This review presents a brief discussion on three aspects of the recent studies to use peptide- and saccharide-conjugated dendrimers for drug delivery: (i) synthesis methods, (ii) cell- and tissue-targeting properties and (iii) applications of conjugated dendrimers in drug delivery nanodevices. With more studies to elucidate the structure-function relationship of ligand-dendrimer conjugates in transporting drugs, the conjugated dendrimers hold promise to facilitate targeted delivery and improve drug efficacy for discovery and development of modern pharmaceutics.

Keywords: binding; dendrimer; drug delivery; ligand; targeting.

Figure 1.

(a) Schematic of a dendrimer structure; (b) bioactive dendrimers can interact with specific receptors on cell membrane; (c) three types of commonly used dendrimer materials, as illustrated by G3.0 PAMAM, G3.0 poly (propylene)imine (PPI) and G2.0 dendritic poly l-lysine.

Figure 2.

Different types of dendrimer–therapeutic cargo associations. (a) Hydrophobic interactions between drug molecules and dendrimer backbone or constituent. (b) Ionic binding. (c) Covalent ligation, including degradable linkages. (d) Dendrimers can also be used to functionalize and/or enhance the solubility and biocompatibility of other nanodevices.