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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery
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Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 11134

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Guangya Xiang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
2. School of Pharmacy, Tongren Polytechnic College, Tongren 554300, China
Interests: nanoscale drug delivery system; drug synthetic technology; medical imaging nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart biomaterials, also known as stimuli-responsive biomaterials, can respond to physiological parameters and exogenous stimuli to produce thermal, optical, chemical, or structural changes. Therefore, smart biomaterials are widely used in small-molecule, gene, and protein drug delivery for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human diseases.

This Special Issue serves to highlight and discuss recent advances in the design and application of smart biomaterials, as well as challenges and future directions of smart biomaterials. For this Special Issue, we invite articles on all aspects of smart biomaterial design and application studies highlighting the world-class research currently being undertaken.

Prof. Dr. Guangya Xiang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart materials
  • stimuli-responsive materials
  • biomaterials
  • drug delivery system
  • disease diagnose and treatment

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2056 KiB  
Article
Preparation and In Vitro Evaluation of a Gadolinium-Containing Vitamin E TPGS Micelle as a Potential Contrast Agent for MR Imaging
by Yongkang Gai, Yuying Li, Shuangping Wu, Ling Xu, Yao Lu, Xiaoli Lan, Guangya Xiang and Xiang Ma
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(2), 401; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15020401 - 25 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1366
Abstract
The application of many currently evaluated macromolecular contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been limited because of their bio-incompatibility and toxicity. The aim of this study is to synthesize and characterize a new micelle-based TPGS gadolinium chelate as a biocompatible MRI [...] Read more.
The application of many currently evaluated macromolecular contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been limited because of their bio-incompatibility and toxicity. The aim of this study is to synthesize and characterize a new micelle-based TPGS gadolinium chelate as a biocompatible MRI contrast agent for prolonged blood circulation time and good tumor imaging contrast. The TPGS-gadolinium conjugate was prepared through the conjugation between TPGS-SA and bifunctional L-NETA-Gd chelate. The conjugate was characterized with regard to molecular weight, critical micellar concentration and particle sizes, cellular uptake, and in vitro cell MRI. Distributions of the MRI contrast agent in various organs were determined via intravenous injection of the agent into mice bearing xenograft tumors. The successfully prepared TPGS-L-NETA-Gd micelle exhibited improved cellular uptake in HepG2 cells and xenografts and high in vivo safety. Distributions of TPGS-L-NETA-Gd in mice showed enhanced cellular uptake up to 2 h after the contrast agent injection. Its in vitro and in vivo properties make it a favorable macromolecular MRI contrast agent for future in vivo imaging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery)
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Review

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12 pages, 1228 KiB  
Review
Cell-Derived Vesicles for mRNA Delivery
by Zhenghua Li, Zhen Liu, Jiacai Wu and Bin Li
Pharmaceutics 2022, 14(12), 2699; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14122699 - 2 Dec 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2164
Abstract
The clinical translation of messenger mRNA (mRNA)-based therapeutics requires safe and effective delivery systems. Although considerable progress has been made on the development of mRNA delivery systems, many challenges, such as the dose-limiting toxicity and specific delivery to extrahepatic tissues, still remain. Cell-derived [...] Read more.
The clinical translation of messenger mRNA (mRNA)-based therapeutics requires safe and effective delivery systems. Although considerable progress has been made on the development of mRNA delivery systems, many challenges, such as the dose-limiting toxicity and specific delivery to extrahepatic tissues, still remain. Cell-derived vesicles, a type of endogenous membranous particle secreted from living cells, can be leveraged to load mRNA during or after their biogenesis. Currently, they have received increasing interest for mRNA delivery due to their natural origin, good biocompatibility, cell-specific tropism, and unique ability to cross physiological barriers. In this review, we provide an overview of recent advances in the naturally occurring mRNA delivery platforms and their biomedical applications. Furthermore, the future perspectives on clinical translation of cell-derived vesicles have been discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery)
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19 pages, 1756 KiB  
Review
Aptamers as Smart Ligands for Targeted Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy
by Zongyi Wei, Yuxin Zhou, Rongjie Wang, Jin Wang and Zhenhua Chen
Pharmaceutics 2022, 14(12), 2561; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14122561 - 22 Nov 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2006
Abstract
Undesirable side effects and multidrug tolerance are the main holdbacks to the treatment of cancer in conventional chemotherapy. Fortunately, targeted drug delivery can improve the enrichment of drugs at the target site and reduce toxicity to normal tissues and cells. A targeted drug [...] Read more.
Undesirable side effects and multidrug tolerance are the main holdbacks to the treatment of cancer in conventional chemotherapy. Fortunately, targeted drug delivery can improve the enrichment of drugs at the target site and reduce toxicity to normal tissues and cells. A targeted drug delivery system is usually composed of a nanocarrier and a targeting component. The targeting component is called a “ligand”. Aptamers have high target affinity and specificity, which are identified as attractive and promising ligands. Therefore, aptamers have potential application in the development of smart targeting systems. For instance, aptamers are able to efficiently recognize tumor markers such as nucleolin, mucin, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Besides, aptamers can also identify glycoproteins on the surface of tumor cells. Thus, the aptamer-mediated targeted drug delivery system has received extensive attention in the application of cancer therapy. This article reviews the application of aptamers as smart ligands for targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy. Special interest is focused on aptamers as smart ligands, aptamer-conjugated nanocarriers, aptamer targeting strategy for tumor microenvironment (TME), and aptamers that are specified to crucial cancer biomarkers for targeted drug delivery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery)
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25 pages, 3727 KiB  
Review
Tumor Microenvironment-Based Stimuli-Responsive Nanoparticles for Controlled Release of Drugs in Cancer Therapy
by Weixin Zhou, Yujie Jia, Yani Liu, Yan Chen and Pengxuan Zhao
Pharmaceutics 2022, 14(11), 2346; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14112346 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 2873
Abstract
With the development of nanomedicine technology, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers play an increasingly important role in antitumor therapy. Compared with the normal physiological environment, the tumor microenvironment (TME) possesses several unique properties, including acidity, high glutathione (GSH) concentration, hypoxia, over-expressed enzymes and excessive reactive oxygen [...] Read more.
With the development of nanomedicine technology, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers play an increasingly important role in antitumor therapy. Compared with the normal physiological environment, the tumor microenvironment (TME) possesses several unique properties, including acidity, high glutathione (GSH) concentration, hypoxia, over-expressed enzymes and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors. However, on the other hand, these properties could also be harnessed for smart drug delivery systems to release drugs specifically in tumor tissues. Stimuli-responsive nanoparticles (srNPs) can maintain stability at physiological conditions, while they could be triggered rapidly to release drugs by specific stimuli to prolong blood circulation and enhance cancer cellular uptake, thus achieving excellent therapeutic performance and improved biosafety. This review focuses on the design of srNPs based on several stimuli in the TME for the delivery of antitumor drugs. In addition, the challenges and prospects for the development of srNPs are discussed, which can possibly inspire researchers to develop srNPs for clinical applications in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery)
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21 pages, 2654 KiB  
Review
Progress of Research in In Situ Smart Hydrogels for Local Antitumor Therapy: A Review
by Juan Zhao, Ling Wang, Haiwei Zhang, Bin Liao and Yongsheng Li
Pharmaceutics 2022, 14(10), 2028; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14102028 - 23 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2023
Abstract
Cancer seriously threatens human health. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the three pillars of traditional cancer treatment, with targeted therapy and immunotherapy emerging over recent decades. Standard drug regimens are mostly executed via intravenous injection (IV), especially for chemotherapy agents. However, these treatments [...] Read more.
Cancer seriously threatens human health. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the three pillars of traditional cancer treatment, with targeted therapy and immunotherapy emerging over recent decades. Standard drug regimens are mostly executed via intravenous injection (IV), especially for chemotherapy agents. However, these treatments pose severe risks, including off-target toxic side effects, low drug accumulation and penetration at the tumor site, repeated administration, etc., leading to inadequate treatment and failure to meet patients’ needs. Arising from these challenges, a local regional anticancer strategy has been proposed to enhance therapeutic efficacy and concomitantly reduce systemic toxicity. With the advances in biomaterials and our understanding of the tumor microenvironment, in situ stimulus-responsive hydrogels, also called smart hydrogels, have been extensively investigated for local anticancer therapy due to their injectability, compatibility and responsiveness to various stimuli (pH, enzyme, heat, light, magnetic fields, electric fields etc.). Herein, we focus on the latest progress regarding various stimuli that cause phase transition and drug release from smart hydrogels in local regional anticancer therapy. Additionally, the challenges and future trends of the reviewed in situ smart hydrogels for local drug delivery are summarized and proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery)
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