posted on 2014-03-13, 00:00authored byRyan M. Pearson, Suhair Sunoqrot, Hao-jui Hsu, Jin Woo Bae, Seungpyo Hong
Dendritic polymers have attracted a great deal of scientific interests due to their well-defined unique structure and capability to be multifunctionalized. Here we present a comprehensive overview of various dendrimer-based nanoparticles that are currently being investigated for drug delivery and diagnostics applications. Through a critical review of the old and new dendritic designs, we highlight the advantages and disadvantages of these systems and their structure- biological property relationships. This paper also focuses on the major challenges facing the clinical translation of these nanodevices, and how these challenges are being (or should be) addressed, which will greatly benefit the overall progress of dendrimer-based technologies for theranostics.
Funding
This work has been supported by National Science Foundation under grant # CBET-0931472, Susan G Komen Foundation under grant # KG100713, and University of Illinois Foundation. RM Pearson was partially supported by a graduate fellowship from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.
History
Publisher Statement
According to the guidelines provided by the publisher, this article is the pre-reviewed submitted manuscript to Therapeutic Delivery and does not incorporate adjustments to the content after peer reviewing. The citation for the published work is: R. M. Pearson, S. Sunoqrot, H.-j. Hsu, J. W. Bae, S. Hong, Therapeutic Delivery 3, 941 (2012).