Macromolecular Prodrugs Based on Synthetic Polyaminoacids: Drug Delivery and Drug Targeting in Antitumor Therapy

Gennara      Cavallaro; Giovanna      Pitarresi; Gaetano      Giammona

doi:10.2174/156802611797183276

Abstract

In the last twenty years a depth study on potential pharmaceutical applications of synthetic polymers at proteinlike structure as carrier for macromolecular prodrug production has been performed in academia and in industry. In particular α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-DL-aspartamide (PHEA), α,β-polyaspartylhydrazide (PAHy), poly(glutamic acid) (PGA), poly(aspartic acid) (PAA) and polylysine (PLL) have been extensively studied in this field. In the present review, the use of PHEA, PAHy, PGA as starting materials to prepare macromolecular prodrugs is reported and drug delivery and targeting aspects have been considered.

Keywords: alpha,beta-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-DL-aspartamide, alpha,beta-polyaspartylhydrazide, poly(glutamic acid), carriers, anticancer drugs, pharmaceutical field, nanostructured materials, nanotechnologies, drug molecule, polymeric micelles, chemical conjugation, polyaminoacids, thermal polycondensation, polyaspartic acid (PAA), systematic studies, aα,β:-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-DL-aspartamide, α,β:-polyaspartylhydrazide