Tubular Supramolecular Polymer Brushes Delivery Vectors

Nanostructures have emerged as key players in modern medicine in recent years, due to their numerous advantages employed as drug delivery vectors over conventional delivery systems, with applications ranging from contrast agents in medical imaging to gene delivery carriers to individual cells. In particular, research in nanoparticles (NPs) has explored how to make drugs more effective by having an in-depth understanding of the interaction of nanoparticles with cells, and the optimal toxicity or concentration. Compared to traditional drugs, enhanced pharmacokinetics, biocompatibility, tumour targeting, and stability are associated with NP-based drug delivery systems, while simultaneously playing an important role in minimizing systemic toxicity and overcoming drug resistance. However, many problems related to selective binding, targeted delivery and toxicity need to be overcome. In particular, the main challenge still remains achieving the correct balance safety / efficacy and improving the therapeutic index of a given drug. Once the NPs have delivered their payload, they must be engineered to degrade, to avoid organ accumulation, typically liver and spleen, causing toxicity and long-term health issues. This PoC application aims at addressing this issue, by building on the materials developed as part of the ERC Consolidator grant TUSUPO. These materials can effectively deliver anticancer drugs, have prolonged circulation time in vivo and eventually disassemble in non-toxic component which can be excreted. This project will expand the application of these materials and established their pharmacokinetic data, which are key to take them to clinic and market.