Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 19, Issue 29, 2012

Current trends in research dealing with methods of developing effective chemotherapy for the two most dangerous killers – breast and colon cancers have been discussed. The input brought by nanotechnology is presented with particular stress on the use of dendrimers. These unique "polymeric compounds" after modification can form intelligent species, transporting drugs into specific areas and at the same time can Read More

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising approach to treat certain types of cancer. PDT was proposed as a useful oncology tool more than 30 years ago but it has limitations. The success of PDT depends predominantly on photosensitizers and development of an effective second generation is continuing. Dendrimers possess architecture suitable for incorporating specific functional moieties and are a promising venue for furt Read More

New nano-scale drug carriers offer the possibility of increasing the therapeutic index of drug molecules by increasing their effectiveness, diminishing their toxicity against physiological tissues and achieving controlled therapeutic levels for a prolonged time. This review gives an overview of approaches to the development of these novel complex nanocarriers with emphasis on those involving dendrimers and rela Read More

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) constitutes an excellent way of knocking down genes. However, it requires the use of delivery systems to reach the target cells, especially to neuronal cells. Dendrimers are one of the most widely used synthetic nanocarriers for siRNA delivery. However, due to the complexity of the dendrimer-siRNA interactions, when a new dendritic carrier is designed it is difficult to predict its efficiency to bind and Read More

Complex functional materials consisting of bioactive molecules immobilized on solid supports present potential applications in biosensoring. Advances in the fabrication of these surface materials are of growing interest for antibody-based diagnosis. This work exploits dendrimers as versatile nanostructures for templating sensor surfaces and the critical role of the immobilization protocol in the solid supports cellulose Read More

The diagnosis and treatment of malignant melanoma by means of the formulation of active principles with dendrimeric nanoparticles is an area of great current interest. The identification and understanding of molecular mechanisms which ensure the integration of particular dendrimeric nanostructures in tumor cellular environment can provide valuable guidance in their coupling strategies with antitumor or diagnostic ag Read More

Stem cells and nanomaterials are two new and exciting fields of science that are evolving very fast and that are starting to establish ties. Nanomaterials should, however, be designed to interact with stem cells without compromising their biological characteristics, in other words, without affecting their viability and differentiation potential. In the present report and for the first time, the effects of poly(amidoamine) ( Read More

The review presents fluorescence spectroscopic studies on the capacities of newly synthesized polypropyleneamine and polyamidoamine fluorescent dendrimers to detect biologically important metal ions. It has been shown that those fluorescent dendrimers whose periphery comprises 1,8-napthalimide fragments are highly sensitive to metal ions which are of great importance to the living organisms.

We describe here the use of anionic carbosilane dendrimers to obtain new copper complexes. UV-Vis and a computer aided analysis of the EPR spectra provided information about the coordination modes of copper depending on the nature of the dendrimer and about the geometry and structure of the complexes in solution. Some of these metallo-dendrimers have been tested “in vitro” as antiviral compounds in the inhib Read More

Metallodrugs (organometallic complexes) bearing at least one metal-carbon bond - represent original and powerful tools for diverse therapeutic applications based on the development of “bioorganometallic chemistry”. To date, various metallodrugs were described with very interesting biological activities as antimalarials, antibacterials, neuroprotectors, against arthritis, for chemotherapy etc. Anticancer Pt-based drugs Read More

Poly(aminoester) dendrimers are expected to hold great promise as biodegradable nanocarriers for drug delivery due to their advantageous properties allowing their biodegradability, potentially lower toxicity and possibility of diverse chemical conjugations. The synthetic strategies for constructing such dendrimers include the amine branching method, the ester formation method, the combination of both methods as w Read More

This review addresses current and future perspectives of nanogel technology for nanomedicine. The synthetic methodologies and material properties of nanogels prepared by chemical meanings are discussed in detail, and examples that illustrate the different methodologies are presented. Applications in the fields of drug and gene delivery, smart imaging modalities, responsive materials, and multivalency as a th Read More

Gene therapy, in which oligomeric genetic material is carried into cells by nano-sized gene delivery vehicles to interfere with gene expression, represents a promising approach for preventive therapy against HIV/AIDS pandemic. Herein, we evaluate the usefulness of a phosphorus-containing dendrimer G4(NH+Et2Cl-)96 as a delivery agent of ODNs and siRNAs. G4(NH+Et2Cl-)96 formed stable complexes with ODNs Read More

Here we present a synthetic procedure for water-stable carbosilane dendrimers containing ammonium groups at the periphery of type Gn-{[Si(CH2)3N+(Me)(Et)CH2CH2N+Me3]x (CF3SO3 -)y} which have been used as non-viral vectors for transfecting different types of nucleic acids against two different medical problems, HIV and hepatocarcinoma. These systems have shown to be non-toxic in both PBMC and HepG2 Read More

Due to the relative easy synthesis and commercial availability, nanovectors based on dendrimers and dendrons are among the most utilized non-viral vectors for gene transfer. Contextually, recent advances in molecular simulations and computer architectures not only allow for accurate predictions of many structural, energetical, and eventual self-assembly features of these nanocarriers per se, but are able to yield vital ( Read More

The application of polymers in medicine, as components of drug carriers, as well as their synthetic strategies are considered essential for producing and developing new drug formulations against human deceases. The synthesis of block copolymers is a timeconsuming process with a high cost of the final product, although several block copolymer systems have been already commercialized successfully. The biocompatibility, the bi Read More

Transfection of genetic material into primary neuronal cultures remains a challenge because of the intrinsic difficulty in transfecting this type of cell. This review covers the recent developments in the use of dendrimers for siRNA and DNA transfection in both neuronal and glial cells. Crossing the blood brain barrier crossing represents a challenge for the effective use of dendrimer-mediated delivery of therapeutic agents to the ce Read More