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Review
. 2020 Nov 6;13(21):4995.
doi: 10.3390/ma13214995.

A Review on Chitosan's Uses as Biomaterial: Tissue Engineering, Drug Delivery Systems and Cancer Treatment

Rayssa de Sousa Victor  1   2 , Adillys Marcelo da Cunha Santos  3 , Bianca Viana de Sousa  4 , Gelmires de Araújo Neves  2 , Lisiane Navarro de Lima Santana  2 , Romualdo Rodrigues Menezes  2
Affiliations
Review

A Review on Chitosan's Uses as Biomaterial: Tissue Engineering, Drug Delivery Systems and Cancer Treatment

Rayssa de Sousa Victor et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Chitosan, derived from chitin, is a biopolymer consisting of arbitrarily distributed β-(1-4)-linked D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine that exhibits outstanding properties- biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, antibacterial activity, the capacity to form films, and chelating of metal ions. Most of these peculiar properties are attributed to the presence of free protonable amino groups along the chitosan backbone, which also gives it solubility in acidic conditions. Moreover, this biopolymer can also be physically modified, thereby presenting a variety of forms to be developed. Consequently, this polysaccharide is used in various fields, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, and cancer treatment. In this sense, this review aims to gather the state-of-the-art concerning this polysaccharide when used as a biomaterial, providing information about its characteristics, chemical modifications, and applications. We present the most relevant and new information about this polysaccharide-based biomaterial's applications in distinct fields and also the ability of chitosan and its various derivatives to selectively permeate through the cancer cell membranes and exhibit anticancer activity, and the possibility of adding several therapeutic metal ions as a strategy to improve the therapeutic potential of this polymer.

Keywords: biopolymer; cancer treatment; chitosan; drug delivery system; tissue engineering.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the three polymorphic forms of chitin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of chitin and chitosan.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Literature data extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection about papers that address chitosan (CS) applied in the field of tissue engineering.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Literature data extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection about papers that address chitosan (CS) uses in drug delivery systems (DDSs).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Literature data extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection about papers that address chitosan (CS) in anticancer systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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