Fabrication and design of dendrimers for cancer chemotherapy

Abstract

Since the discovery of dendrimers in 1978, it has received serious attention as a drug carrier polymer most especially in cancer chemotherapeutics where precision and targeted delivery of drug to tumor cells is most desirable. Dendrimers are mostly synthetic, hyper-branched, tree-like globular, nano-sized polymers with excellent physicochemical properties that can be utilized in the formulation, design and delivery of drugs, vaccine and genes to specific receptors in the body. This review focused on the synthesis, types and applications of dendrimers in the delivery of cytotoxic drugs. The review shows that in the last decade, dendrimers have proved to be promising nanocarriers for various drugs including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer drugs. The application of dendrimers as scaffolds of prodrugs is particularly interesting. Dendrimers are relatively more stable compared with other nano drug carriers and are suitable in formulating drugs for different routes of administration. As more and newer dendrimers are introduced into the market, they will have increasing role in therapeutic delivery of drugs, vaccines and gene.Keywords: Dendrimers, Targeted drug delivery and Cancer chemotherapy