BACKGROUND Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), employed for treatment of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is based on over-expression of Somatostatin Receptors (SSTRs) on NETs. It is, however, limited by high uptake and retention of radiolabeled peptide in kidneys resulting in unnecessary radiation exposure thus causing nephrotoxicity. Employing a nanocarrier to deliver PRRT drugs specifi...

Hyperbranched polymers are obtained through one-step polymerization reactions and exhibit properties that are very similar to those of perfect dendrimer analogues. Therefore, hyperbranched polymers are a suitable alternative for perfect dendrimers as building blocks for dendritic nanocarrier systems. With regard to using soluble hyperbranched polymers as carrier systems, their flexible chains a...

Nanocarrier mediated therapy of gliomas has shown promise. The success ofsystemic nanocarrier-based chemotherapy is critically dependent on the so-called leakyvasculature to permit drug extravasation across the blood-brain barrier. Yet, the extent ofvascular permeability in individual tumors varies widely, resulting in a correspondinglywide range of responses to the therapy. How...

Prostate cancer (PCa) disease progression is associated with significant changes in intracellular and extracellular proteins, intracellular signaling mechanism, and cancer cell phenotype. These changes may have direct impact on the cellular interactions with nanocarriers; hence, there is the need for a much-detailed understanding, as nanocarrier cellular internalization and intracellular sortin...

A number of anticancer drugs, such as doxorubicin (DOX), operate only after being transported into the nucleus of cancer cells. Thus it is essential for the drug carriers to effectively release the anticancer drugs into the cytoplasm of cancer cells and make them move to nucleus freely. Herein, a pH-responsive charge-reversal polyelectrolyte and integrin αⅤβ3 mono-antibody functionalized graphe...

Increased stiffness of Schlemm's canal endothelial cells (SC cells) is a major contributing factor to the increased pressure characteristic of primary open-angle glaucoma. New treatments for glaucoma are being developed using actin depolymerizers and rho kinase inhibitors to address this increased stiffness. However, these agents have off-target effects and are not as potent as had been hoped. ...

Surface modification of nanocarriers with amphiphilic polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG), known as PEGylation, is regarded as a major breakthrough in the application of nanocarriers. However, PEGylated nanocarriers (including liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles) induce what is referred to as the "accelerated blood clearance (ABC) phenomenon" upon repeated injection and consequently they lose t...

pH-sensitive drug carriers that are sensitive to the acidic (pH = ~6.5) microenvironments of tumor tissues have been primarily used as effective drug/gene/siRNA/microRNA carriers for releasing their payloads to tumor cells/tissues. Resistance to various drugs has become a big hurdle in systemic chemotherapy in cancer. Therefore delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and siRNA's targeting anti apop...

We present an equilibrium model for quantifying the effect of glycocalyx in mediating the interaction of functionalized nanocarriers with endothelial cells. In this model, nanocarrier adhesion is governed by the interplay between three physical parameters, namely, glycocalyx resistance, flexural rigidity of receptors, and receptor-ligand bond stiffness. We describe a procedure to rationally det...