Sculpturing the future of water-soluble cyclodextrin branched polymers in pharmaceutical applications

Water-soluble polymers of cyclodextrins (CyD) can be easily obtained in alkaline media following polycondensation of the naturally occurring monomers in the presence of a crosslinking agent. They can be further modified to customize specifically functionalized architectures. Compared to other macromolecules natural and not, the CyD polymers are endowed with a unique feature, the cone-shaped cavities where they can host guests of various nature. This element has sollicited interest in this class of molecules for a wide range of applications including the biomedical field, in particular drug delivery. The CyD polymers display excellent behavior in terms of water solubility and solubilizing power towards drugs and therapeutic agents that are incompatible with biological fluids. Moreover, they can load more than one type of therapeutic agent in a single system thus allowing to implement combination therapy. In spite of some very promising results as delivery systems, their potentialities remain limited by some intrinsic hurdles. Herein, we comment on their limits mainly related to the production process and the possible solutions to overcome them, giving an outlook on their assets for innovation in disease treatment.