title: Heteromultivalent ligand-decoration for actively targeted nanomedicine.
abstract: Active targeting has become an important component of nanomedicine design where nanovehicles are surface-decorated with cell receptor-specific or disease matrix-specific ligands to enable site-selective binding, retention and delivery of theranostic cargo. In this context, there have been numerous reports regarding surface-modification of nanovehicles with antibodies, antibody fragments, carbohydrates, aptamers and peptides as targeting ligands. However, majority of these reports have focused on using a single type of targeting moiety on the vehicle surface. In any disease development and progression, multiple receptors and proteins are often spatio-temporally upregulated simultaneously and heterogeneously. Rationalizing from this, a significant advantage can be envisioned in targeting multiple entities simultaneously using vehicle co-decoration with multiple types of ligands, to enhance binding activity and targeting specificity. To this end, we present a comprehensive up-to-date review on research endeavors in heteromultivalent ligand-modification of nanovehicles and provide a mechanistic rationale as well as an insightful discussion of this promising area, including findings from our own research.
authors.affiliation: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Christa L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Modery-Pawlowski
authors.affiliation: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. Electronic address: axs262@po.cwru.edu.
authors.forename: Anirban Sen
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004194:Disease; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface
keywords: Active targeting; Heteromultivalent; Ligands; Nanomedicine; Receptors