Polymer Nanocompartments in Broad-Spectrum Medical Applications

Abstract

The field of nanoscience is expected to make significant contributions to contemporary medicine by providing unique solutions to critical problems. These solutions require the design of hybrid materials/systems with new properties and functionalities. This review focuses on spherical polymer nanocompartments (capsules and vesicles) and describes their potential in a wide variety of medical applications that range from passive drug carriers to active nanoreactors to artificial organelles. Here, we place emphasis on the complex requirements that a polymer assembly must fulfill for consideration in the medical domain. In terms of stability and chemical diversity, synthetic polymer compartments are superior to currently marketed liposomes, thereby supporting their modification for targeting approaches, stimuli-responsiveness, and multifunctionality. The authors present the latest concepts and examples based on the encapsulation/entrapment of biomolecules (e.g., enzymes and proteins) for the development of active nanosystems for application in the medical domain.

Keywords::

• artificial organelle
• biodistribution
• drug delivery
• nanoreactor
• nucleic acid delivery
• polymersomes
• polymer nanocompartments
• polymer vesicles
• protein delivery
• self-assembly

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by the National Centre of Competence in Research Nanoscale Science, and this is gratefully acknowledged. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript. The authors acknowledge M Inglin for reading the manuscript, who was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the National Centre of Competence in Research Nanoscale Science.

Acknowledgements

D Wu thanks the China Scholarship Council and the Chemistry Department of the University of Basel.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by the National Centre of Competence in Research Nanoscale Science, and this is gratefully acknowledged. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.