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Reduction-Sensitive, Robust Vesicles with a Non-covalently Modifiable Surface as a Multifunctional Drug-Delivery Platform

✍ Scribed by Kyeng Min Park; Don-Wook Lee; Bijay Sarkar; Hyuntae Jung; Jeeyeon Kim; Young Ho Ko; Kyung Eun Lee; Hyesung Jeon; Kimoon Kim


Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2010
Tongue
English
Weight
889 KB
Volume
6
Category
Article
ISSN
1613-6810

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✦ Synopsis


Abstract

The design and synthesis of a novel reduction‐sensitive, robust, and biocompatible vesicle (SSCB[6]VC) are reported, which is self‐assembled from an amphiphilic cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) derivative that contains disulfide bonds between hexaethylene glycol units and a CB[6] core. The remarkable features of SSCB[6]VC include: 1) facile, non‐destructive, non‐covalent, and modular surface modification using exceptionally strong host–guest chemistry; 2) high structural stability; 3) facile internalization into targeted cells by receptor‐mediated endocytosis, and 4) efficient triggered release of entrapped drugs in a reducing environment such as cytoplasm. Furthermore, a significantly increased cytotoxicity of the anticancer drug doxorubicin to cancer cells is demonstrated using doxorubicin‐loaded SSCB[6]VC, the surface of which is decorated with functional moieties such as a folate–spermidine conjugate and fluorescein isothiocyanate–spermidine conjugate as targeting ligand and fluorescence imaging probe, respectively. SSCB[6]VC with such unique features can be used as a highly versatile multifunctional platform for targeted drug delivery, which may find useful applications in cancer therapy. This novel strategy based on supramolecular chemistry and the unique properties of CB[6] can be extended to design smart multifunctional materials for biomedical applications including gene delivery.