Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Coated with Glucosylated poly(2-oxazoline)s: A Supramolecular Toolbox Approach

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Multifunctional polymers are crucial for formulating drugs with poor pharmacokinetics or side effects.
• Polymer-drug formulations enhance drug properties and enable tissue-specific delivery via nanocontainers or stabilized nanoparticles.
• Targeting specific cell lines, like those expressing GLUT1, is a key challenge in drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize novel multifunctional poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline-co-2-glyco-2-oxazoline)s with reactive end groups and a hydrophobic anchor.
• To utilize these polymers for stabilizing (solid) lipid nanoparticles ((S)LNP) for drug delivery.
• To investigate the interaction of these polymers and (S)LNPs with GLUT1-expressing cell lines.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline-co-2-glyco-2-oxazoline)s with dual reactive end groups and a hydrophobic anchor.
• Stabilization of (solid) lipid nanoparticles using the synthesized polymers' hydrophobic anchor.
• Cell-based assays to evaluate interactions between polymers, (S)LNPs, and GLUT1-expressing cell lines.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of multifunctional polymers with desired functional groups.
• Effective stabilization of (S)LNPs composed of tetradecan-1-ol and cholesterol.
• Pure polymers interacted with cells via physicochemical properties and the hydrophobic anchor.
• LNP-cell interactions indicated that glucosylation influences particle-cell interactions.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized polymers are effective in stabilizing (S)LNPs.
• Glucosylation plays a role in the interaction of nanoparticles with GLUT1-expressing cells.
• (S)LNPs formulated with these polymers are promising for targeted drug delivery to GLUT1-expressing cell lines.