title: Capsid-like supramolecular dendritic systems as pH-responsive nanocarriers for drug penetration and site-specific delivery.
abstract: Supramolecular dendritic systems emerge as a promising new-generation bioinspired nanoplatform for nanomedicine. Herein, we report capsid-like mimics self-assembled from peptide dendrimers and functionalized peptides to enhance drug penetration and site-specific delivery for tumor therapy. These drug-loaded supramolecular dendritic systems are endowed with capsid-like component and nanostructure by a facile supramolecular approach. As expected, the drug-loaded capsid-like nanocarriers show some desirable advantages for antitumor drug delivery: a) well-defined nanostructure to improve drug location at tumor site, b) capsid-like architecture to enhance drug penetration, c) high internalization, pH-controlled release and nuclear delivery to jointly achieve site-specific delivery. Based on these merits, the drug-loaded capsid nanocarriers provide efficient tumor suppression to 4T1 tumor bearing BALB/c mice and decrease the DOX-induced toxicity during treatment course.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Dendrimers have been tested in many clinical trials as nanocarriers, without great success due to many limitations. Here, the authors attempted to address these issues by developing supramolecular dendritic systems, which mimic capsids in viruses. Both in-vitro and in-vivo studies showed promising results. This work should provide a platform for further development of dendrimer-based nanocarriers for drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Yachao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Yusi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: xianghui.xu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xianghui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: zwgu@scu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhongwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001940:Breast / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D050091:Dendrimers / Q000737:chemistry*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D050091:Dendrimers; D011107:Polylysine; D004317:Doxorubicin
keywords: Bioinspired nanocarriers; Drug penetration; Site-specific delivery; Supramolecular dendritic system; pH-responsive controlled release