Title:Poly(ethylene glycol)-polypeptide Copolymer Micelles for Therapeutic Agent Delivery
VOLUME: 17 ISSUE: 3
Author(s):Yilong Cheng
Affiliation:Department of Bioengineering and Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute, University of Washington, 3720 15th Ave NE, Box 355061, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States.
Keywords:Polypeptide, poly(ethylene glycol), amphiphilic, micelles, therapeutic agents.
Abstract:Poly(ethylene glycol)-polypeptide (PEG-polypeptide) based polymeric micelles as therapeutic
agent carriers have received considerable interest due to their advanced achievements in clinical
trials. Polypeptides not only show well-defined secondary structure (alfa-helix and beta-sheet)
and good biocompatibility, but can also be functionalized with various groups by direct
N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) polymerization or further modification. Additionally, the ionizable side
chains enable them to deliver diverse therapeutic agents, such as negative nucleic acid and positive
doxorubicin. In this review, we firstly summarized the synthetic methods of amphiphilic copolymers
PEG-polypeptide, and emphatically discussed recent progress on their applications as nanocarriers for therapeutic agents
from following aspects: PEG-nonionic polypeptide copolymer micelles, PEG-anionic polypeptide micelles, and PEGcationic
polypeptide micelles.
