Abstract
Polymersomes are biomimetic cell membrane-like model structures that are self-assembled stepwise from amphiphilic copolymers. These polymeric (nano)carriers have gained the scientific community’s attention due to their biocompatibility, versatility, and higher stability than liposomes. Their tunable properties, such as composition, size, shape, and surface functional groups, extend encapsulation possibilities to either hydrophilic or hydrophobic cargoes (or both) and their site-specific delivery. Besides, polymersomes can disassemble in response to different stimuli, including light, for controlling the “on-demand” release of cargo that may also respond to light as photosensitizers and plasmonic nanostructures. Thus, polymersomes can be spatiotemporally stimulated by light of a wide wavelength range, whose exogenous response may activate light-stimulable moieties, enhance the drug efficacy, decrease side effects, and, thus, be broadly employed in photoinduced therapy. This review describes current light-responsive polymersomes evaluated for anticancer therapy. It includes light-activable moieties’ features and polymersomes’ composition and release behavior, focusing on recent advances and applications in cancer therapy, current trends, and photosensitive polymersomes’ perspectives.
Highlights
Biomimetic nanostructures, such as polymersomes, known as polymeric vesicles, are self-assembled supramolecular organizations with emulating functionalities of biological processes of permeable cell membranes [1,2]
Strategies based on upconversion (UC) processes have been proposed to overcome the release time limitations associated with NIR and the phototoxic effects of UV irradiation, showing potential in applications related to NIR-light-controlled drug delivery systems
According to the examples reviewed in the previous section, light-responsive polymersomes are ideal candidates for smart nanocarrier-based Drug Delivery Systems (DDSs), known as SDDSs
Summary
Biomimetic nanostructures, such as polymersomes, known as polymeric vesicles, are self-assembled supramolecular organizations with emulating functionalities of biological processes of permeable cell membranes [1,2]. The features of polymersomes make them amenable for simultaneously encapsulating both hydrophilic and hydrophobic cargoes in their core and membrane, respectively, and functionalizing their surface for cell recognition and targeted transport of therapeutic agents [14–16]. It is achievable, due to the overexpression of specific biomarkers on the cell membrane that interact with functionalized polymeric vesicles, for cargo uptake and release, cell imaging, diagnosis, and theragnostic duties [16–20]. New alternatives to traditional therapies are necessary to overcome drawbacks such as the low specificity and selectivity, chemoresistance, and drug short half-life [23–25] Aiming to solve these issues, (nano)carriers based on supramolecular structures for cancer therapy [4,26], e.g., the polymersomes, emerge as a promising approach considering directed drug cargo release as an enhanced therapeutic [21]. Recent findings and current trends on photosensitive (nano)carrier and (nano)reactor perspectives are pointed out, emphasizing their impact on future cancer therapeutics
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