Invited
CARBOHYDRATE PATHWAYS TO TARGET SUGAR-AVID PEDIATRIC TUMORS WITH NANOMEDICINES

Poor aqueous solubility of drugs is one of the most challenging drawbacks in pharmaceutical product development. Different nanotechnology platforms have been developed to improve the biological performance of those drugs. Polymeric micelles (PMs), nanostructures generated by the spontaneous arrangement of amphiphilic copolymers blocks above the critical micellar concentration, have emerged as one of the most versatile ones owing the high diversity of hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks and the chemical flexibility to tailor the amphiphilic structure [1]. The low physical stability of PMs upon dilution in the biological environment is the most striking drawback. Moreover, PMs were mainly utilized for the intravenous administration of antitumorals drugs and not for mucosal routes because of two main limiting drawbacks: weak interaction with mucus and inability to sustain the release of the encapsulated payload over time. Finally, despite their high chemical functionality, PMs are not often designed to actively target specific cells populations. My research group investigates different strategies to improve the performance of this versatile nanotechnology platform in drug delivery. In this presentation, I will report on a new type of glycosylated PMs with improved physical stability and that actively target drugs to sugar-avid cells. After describing their synthesis and the characterization, I will present our most recent results to address the chemotherapy of pediatric patient-derived sarcomas.

Acknowledgements. European Union`s - Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement #612765-MC-NANOTAR.

References

1. A. Sosnik, In: Smart Materials for Drug Delivery, Alvarez-Lorenzo C, Concheiro A (Eds.), Royal Society of Chemistry, London, Chapter 5, pp. 115-147 (2013).