title: Current research on hyaluronic acid-drug bioconjugates.
abstract: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a mucopolysaccharide acid composed of repeating disaccharide units of D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. Based on numerous characteristics such as viscoelastic properties, water-binding ability, biocompatibility and non-immunogenicity, HA has been approved by FDA for biological and medical applications. In addition, multifarious receptors of HA like CD44, RHAMM and TSG6 are over-expressed on the surface of malignant cells, which play important roles in targeting ability. Bioconjugates linking drugs to HA could improve solubility, prolong half-life, provide active targeting capability and then increase the bioavailability of these coupled drugs by pro-drug strategy. Therefore, a large number of HA-drug bioconjugates have been studied. The purpose of this review was to summarize these HA-drug bioconjugates and further discuss synthetic methods and the relevant application in pharmaceuticals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xilu, Jinan 250012, China. Electronic address: haiqun0404@163.com.
authors.forename: Haiqun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Bloomage Freda Biopharm Co., Ltd., Jinan 250101, China.
authors.forename: Siling
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xilu, Jinan 250012, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoye
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xilu, Jinan 250012, China. Electronic address: professorgxzhai@126.com.
authors.forename: Guangxi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhai
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid
keywords: Bioconjugates; Evaluation; Hyaluronic acid; Pro-drug; Synthesis