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Recent developments in carbohydrate‐decorated targeted drug/gene delivery
Author(s) -
Zhang Hailong,
Ma Yong,
Sun XueLong
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
medicinal research reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.868
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1098-1128
pISSN - 0198-6325
DOI - 10.1002/med.20171
Subject(s) - glycobiology , targeted drug delivery , drug , gene delivery , drug delivery , glycomics , pharmacology , gene targeting , computational biology , biology , gene , genetic enhancement , nanotechnology , biochemistry , glycan , materials science , proteomics , glycoprotein
Targeted delivery of a drug or gene to its site of action has clear therapeutic advantages by maximizing its therapeutic efficiency and minimizing its systemic toxicity. Generally, targeted drug or gene delivery is performed by loading a macromolecular carrier with an appropriate drug or gene, and by targeting the drug/gene carrier to specific cell or tissue with the help of specific targeting ligand. The emergence of glycobiology, glycotechnology, and glycomics and their continual adaptation by pharmaceutical scientists have opened exciting avenue of medicinal applications of carbohydrates. Among them, the biocompatibility and specific receptor recognition ability confer the ability of carbohydrates as potential targeting ligands for targeted drug and gene delivery applications. This review summarizes recent progress of carbohydrate‐decorated targeted drug/gene delivery applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev, 30, No. 2, 270–289, 2010