PAMAM dendrimers as efficient drug and gene delivery nanosystems for cancer therapy

• Published in: Applied materials today 2018-09, Vol.12, p.177-190
• Main Authors: Abedi-Gaballu, Fereydoon, Dehghan, Gholamreza, Ghaffari, Maryam, Yekta, Reza, Abbaspour-Ravasjani, Soheil, Baradaran, Behzad, Ezzati Nazhad Dolatabadi, Jafar, Hamblin, Michael R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Co-delivery; Gene delivery; Nanovehicles; PAMAM dendrimers; Targeted drug delivery
• ISSN: 2352-9407; 2352-9415; 2352-9407
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apmt.2018.05.002

[Display omitted] •PAMAM dendrimers can deliver therapeutic cargoes by encapsulation or conjugation.•Surface modification with molecular recognition ligands can target cancer.•PAMAM dendrimers can interact with nucleic acids for intracellular delivery.•Endosomal escape via “proton-sponge” effect releases nucleic acids into the cytosol.•Generations (size), surface modification, 3D spherical structure are main parameters. Drug delivery systems for cancer chemotherapy are employed to improve the effectiveness and decrease the side-effects of highly toxic drugs. Most chemotherapy agents have indiscriminate cytotoxicity that affects normal, as well as cancer cells. To overcome these problems, new more efficient nanosystems for drug delivery are increasingly being investigated. Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are an example of a versatile and reproducible type of nanocarrier that can be loaded with drugs, and modified by attaching target-specific ligands that recognize receptors that are over-expressed on cancer cells. PAMAM dendrimers with a high density of cationic charges display electrostatic interactions with nucleic acids (DNA, siRNA, miRNA, etc.), creating dendriplexes that can preserve the nucleic acids from degradation. Dendrimers are prepared by conducting several successive “generations” of synthetic reactions so their size can be easily controlled and they have good uniformity. Dendrimers are particularly well-suited to co-delivery applications (simultaneous delivery of drugs and/or genes). In the current review, we discuss dendrimer-based targeted delivery of drugs/genes and co-delivery systems mainly for cancer therapy.