Recent advances in the development of poly(ester amide)s-based carriers for drug delivery

Abstract

Biodegradable and biocompatible biomaterials have several important applications in drug delivery. The biomaterial family known as poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) has garnered considerable interest because it exhibits the benefits of both polyester and polyamide, as well as production from readily available raw ingredients and sophisticated synthesis techniques. Specifically, α-amino acid-based PEAs (AA-PEAs) are promising carriers because of their structural flexibility, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Herein, we summarize the latest applications of PEAs in drug delivery systems, including antitumor, gene therapy, and protein drugs, and discuss the prospects of drug delivery based on PEAs, which provides a reference for designing safe and efficient drug delivery carriers.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Drug delivery; Gene vector; Poly(ester amide)s; Smart-responsive.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Structure of polyester (PE), polyamide (PA), and poly(ester amide) (PEA).

Fig. 2

Solution polycondensation for AA-PEA synthesis (reproduced with permission from Han and Wu, 2022).

Fig. 3

Chemical structure of AA-PEA (reproduced with permission from Wu et al., 2011).

Fig. 4

Reduction-sensitive drug delivery based on disulfide bond. (A) Schematic illustration of DOX-loaded SS-PEA nanoparticles for antitumor drug delivery (reproduced with permission from Sun et al., 2015). (B) Schematic illustration of DOX-loaded SSPEA-Gal nanoparticles for antitumor drug delivery (reproduced with permission from Lv et al., 2015).

Fig. 5

Co-delivery of photosensitizers and therapeutic drugs. (A) The formation of reduction-sensitive nanocomplex ArgPEA-ss-HA(AP) via disulfide linkage. (B) Dissociation of ArgPEA-ss-HA(AP) nanocomplex triggered by GSH (reproduced with permission from Ji et al., 2019).

Fig. 6

Schematic illustration of the vaccine design, tumor antigen presentation, and innate stimulation in dendritic cells by 8FNs nanovaccine (reproduced with permission from Xie et al., 2023).

Fig. 7

Arg-PEA polymer-based nanoplatform for nucleic acid delivery (reproduced with permission from You et al., 2018).