Self-assembled glycol chitosan nanoparticles for disease-specific theranostics.
Hydrophobically modified glycol chitosan (hGC) conjugates spontaneously form self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous conditions, and glycol chitosan NPs (CNPs) have been extensively studied for the past few decades. For disease-specific theranostics, CNPs could be simply modified with imaging agents, and the hydrophobic domains of hGC are available for encapsulation of various drugs. Based on the excellent physiochemical and biological properties, CNPs have been investigated for multimodal imaging and target specific drug delivery. In particular, a recent application of CNPs has shown great potential as an efficient theranostic system because the CNPs could be utilized for a disease-specific theranostic delivery system of different imaging agents and therapeutics, simultaneously. Furthermore, various therapeutic agents including chemo-drugs, nucleotides, peptides, and photodynamic chemicals could be simply encapsulated into the CNPs through hydrophobic or charge-charge interactions. Under in vivo conditions, the encapsulated imaging agents and therapeutic drugs have been successfully delivered to targeted diseases. In this article, the overall research progress on CNPs is reviewed from early works. The current challenges of CNPs to overcome in theranostics are also discussed, and continuous studies would provide more opportunities for early diagnosis of diseases and personalized medicine.
Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, South Korea.
Ji Young
JY
Yhee
Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, South Korea.
Sohee
S
Son
Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, South Korea.
Sun Hwa
SH
Kim
Purdue University, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutics, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Kinam
K
Park
Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, South Korea. Electronic address: choi@kist.re.kr.
Kuiwon
K
Choi
Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 6, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, South Korea; KU-KIST School, Korea University, 1 Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-701, South Korea. Electronic address: ikwon@kist.re.kr.
Ick Chan
IC
Kwon
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D004337:Drug Carriers; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; C118638:glycol-chitosan; D048271:Chitosan
Glycol chitosan; Nanoparticles; Targeted delivery; Theranostics