Glycol Chitosan: A Water-Soluble Polymer for Cell Imaging and Drug Delivery

Glycol chitosan (GC), a water-soluble chitosan derivative with hydrophilic ethylene glycol branches, has both hydrophobic segments for the encapsulation of various drugs and reactive functional groups for facile chemical modifications. Over the past two decades, a variety of molecules have been phys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2019-11, Vol.24 (23), p.4371
Main Authors: Lin, Fengming, Jia, Hao-Ran, Wu, Fu-Gen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Animals
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
Antimicrobial agents
Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Biomaterials
Biomedical materials
Cancer therapies
Cell surface
Chitosan
Chitosan - chemistry
Chitosan - therapeutic use
Cholesterol
Contrast agents
Drug Carriers - chemistry
Drug Carriers - therapeutic use
Drug delivery
Drug delivery systems
Drug dosages
Dyes
Encapsulation
Functional groups
Humans
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Hydrophobicity
Infections
Labeling
Magnetic resonance imaging
Membranes
Metastasis
Microorganisms
Molecular weight
Nanoparticles - chemistry
Nanoparticles - therapeutic use
Neoplasms - drug therapy
Neoplasms - metabolism
Neoplasms - pathology
Nucleic acids
Plasma
Polyethylene glycol
Polymers
Review
Signal transduction
Solubility
Therapeutic applications
Water chemistry
Water soluble polymers
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Summary:Glycol chitosan (GC), a water-soluble chitosan derivative with hydrophilic ethylene glycol branches, has both hydrophobic segments for the encapsulation of various drugs and reactive functional groups for facile chemical modifications. Over the past two decades, a variety of molecules have been physically encapsulated within or chemically conjugated with GC and its derivatives to construct a wide range of functional biomaterials. This review summarizes the recent advances of GC-based materials in cell surface labeling, multimodal tumor imaging, and encapsulation and delivery of drugs (including chemotherapeutics, photosensitizers, nucleic acids, and antimicrobial agents) for combating cancers and microbial infections. Besides, different strategies for GC modifications are also highlighted with the aim to shed light on how to endow GC and its derivatives with desirable properties for therapeutic purposes. In addition, we discuss both the promises and challenges of the GC-derived biomaterials.
ISSN:1420-3049
1420-3049
DOI:10.3390/molecules24234371