Dendrimer-Based Nanogels for Cancer Nanomedicine Applications
Shewaye Lakew Mekuria1,2, Zhijun Ouyang1, Cong Song1
1State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Recent advances in the field of nanotechnology bring an alternative approach to personalized medicine in cancer treatment. Nanogels (NGs) are among the nanosized superconstructs composed of amphiphilic or hydrophilic polymer networks. The design of different types of biodegradable polymer-based NGs in various biomedical applications has received extensive attention, due to their unique physicochemical properties such as highly porous structure, stimuli-responsiveness, and mimicking of some biological properties. In this review, we concisely surveyed the synthesis of dendrimer-based NGs synthesized via different methods including covalent conjugation, inverse nanoprecipitation, physical cross-linking, or self-assembly for various cancer nanomedicine applications, particularly for drug delivery, gene delivery, photothermal therapy, and combination therapy, as well as for biological imaging-guided chemotherapy. Additionally, we provide herein future perspective toward the new design of dendrimer-based NGs for different cancer nanomedicine uses.
