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Elastin‐Like Polypeptide Based Nanoparticles: Design Rationale Toward Nanomedicine
Author(s) -
Smits Ferdinanda C. M.,
Buddingh Bastiaan C.,
van Eldijk Mark B.,
van Hest Jan C. M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201400419
Subject(s) - nanomedicine , nanotechnology , nanoparticle , biocompatibility , materials science , chemistry , metallurgy
Elastin‐like polypeptides (ELPs) are characterized by a high sequence control, temperature responsiveness and biocompatibility, which make them highly interesting as smart materials for application in nanomedicine. In particular the construction of ELP‐based nanoparticles has recently become a focal point of attention in materials research. This review will give an overview of the ELP‐based nanoparticles that have been developed until now and their underlying design principles. First a short introduction on ELPs and their stimulus‐responsive behavior will be given. This characteristic has been applied for the development of ELP‐based block copolymers that can self‐assemble into nanoparticles. Both the fully ELP‐based as well as several ELP hybrid materials that have been reported to form nanoparticles will be discussed, which is followed by a concise description of the promising biomedical applications reported for this class of materials.