BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Serial killing nanocarriers

February 21, 2008 8:00 AM UTC

Among the challenges facing researchers in designing tumor-targeted drug delivery systems are choosing a ligand that selectively targets the tumor and consistently delivering therapeutic payload to all parts of the tumor. A group at the University of Utah has tackled the second task by designing a nanoscale vehicle for the delivery of chemotherapeutics that may offer improved dose regularity and tumor saturation compared with delivery systems such as polymer micelles and liposomes.

The team modified a polymeric micelle drug delivery system to create a nanogel that selectively targets tumors and can potentially distribute its therapeutic payload among multiple tumor cells. Polymeric micelles typically consist of a hydrophobic core that might serve to sequester small-molecule compounds and a hydrophilic outer shell that serves to enhance water solubility.The technique was published in Angewandte Chemie.1...