Current Drug Discovery Technologies - Volume 8, Issue 4, 2011

Drug targeting is one of the most important phenomena for therapies of diseases. The phenomena have been divided into two categories, passive targeting in which drug carriers circulate in the bloodstream and accumulate in a target tissue without any specific interactions, and active targeting in which drug carriers with ligands accumulate in a target tissue with receptors through ligand-receptor interactions. The enha Read More

The effectiveness of many promising drug candidates (e.g. anticancer agents) awaits the development of drug forms capable of delivery of their drug load specifically to particular sites of an organism or a cell. To make universal and efficient drug carriers, administered drug-loaded vehicles should be able to reach the pathologic zone, recognize and bind their targets at a therapeutic concentration before clearance from the Read More

Self-spreading lipid bilayers at the solid/liquid interface can be used as a molecular transport medium in targeting nano-devices such as drug delivery and micro-total analytical systems. To gain physico-chemical insight in the selfspreading lipid bilayer, we have characterized the distribution of dye-labeled lipids in the upper and lower monolayers of a self-spreading lipid bilayer on a hydrophobic substrate by fluorescence que Read More

Molecular chaperones selectively trap heat-denatured proteins or their intermediates, primarily by hydrophobic interactions, to prevent irreversible aggregation resulting from macromolecular host (molecular chaperone)-guest (protein) interactions. The molecular chaperone function is an important concept that is expected to lead to breakthroughs in drug delivery systems, especially for protein or peptide delivery in regen Read More

The design of macromolecules able to generate a stable binding with nucleic acids is of great interest for their possible application in gene delivery. During the last years particular attention has been addressed to the use of dendritic scaffolds as a base to construct efficient DNA and siRNA nano-carriers. Dendrimers and dendrons are hyperbranched polymers characterized by a well-defined structure and by the possibility to funct Read More

Successful gene therapy depends on the development of effective gene carriers. Naturally occurring chitosan has been employed widely as a non-viral gene carrier because of its low toxicity, low immunogenicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this review, we summarize the utilization of chitosan, modified chitosan, and chitosan-containing ternary complexes as gene carriers. In particular, we discuss the influence of th Read More

Lipoplexes, the complexes of plasmid DNA with cationic lipids, are considered as an attractive alternative to viral delivery systems. However, synthesized lipoplexes showed several limitations including insufficient transfection, low reproducibility and low stability. Here we attempt to delineate the relationships between the synthesis process, morphology (e.g., shape and liquid crystal structure), and the transfection effi Read More

Liposomes are recognized as useful drug carriers, but have some problems to overcome. Liposomes are easily opsonized with serum proteins (opsonization) and taken up by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) cells, such as spleen and liver. Polyethyleneglycol (PEG) modification on the liposomal membrane forms a fixed aqueous layer and thus prevents opsonization and uptake by the RES. Our research indicates clearly Read More

The goal of this research is to develop an imaging agent that enables real-time and accurate diagnosis of smallsized colorectal cancer. Since colorectal cancer initially develops in the mucous membrane of the large intestine, a nonabsorbable colonoscopic imaging agent capable of being administered intracolonically was designed. The imaging agent is peanut agglutinin (PNA)-immobilized polystyrene nanospheres with sur Read More