Dendritic nanodevices

Kolhe, P, Khandare, J., Pillai, O., Kannan, S., Lieh-Lai, M., Kannan, R.M., Preparation, cellular transport, and activity of polyamidoamine-based dendritic nanodevices with a high drug payload. Biomaterials 27, 660-669 (2006). 

Fig. 9 Two alternative designs for a dendritic nanodevice cancer therapeutic. Configuration 1 is a therapeutic agent built around a single dendrimer molecule (70 A in diameter). Configuration 2 is a cluster reagent where multiple dendrimers are clustered together, each providing a different functional unit (approx. 200 A in diameter). The advantage to this latter approach is that functional units can be mixed and matched in a combinatory method to address almost any type of cancer. (From Ref., 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.)...

V. Overview — Present Applications — Dendritic Nanodevices A. Overview of the Dendritic State... 

Abiotic-biotic hybrids composed of dendritic polymers and natural biopolymers have already found application as nanodevices. In many instances, these dendritic nanodevices are used in abiotic-biotic molecular recognition events involving suprachemistry [104,293,294]. One prime example is the conjugation of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers to IgG antibodies for use in diagnostic immunoassay [295-297]. In that work, the architecturally precise dendrimers act as a replacement for a secondary antibody by spacing the primary antibody away from the solid phase. The replacement of a secondary binding antibody dramatically reduces lot rejections in manufacture and minimizes nonspecific interactions between analytes and the immobilized antibodies. In this nanodevice, the dendrimer acts both as an antibody replacement in contact with the solid phase as well as a macromolecular spacer to hold the antibody away from the solid phase. 

Recent successes in the development of dendritic nanodevices reveal progress in this endeavor. It will not be surprising to see the evolution of synthetic immunosystems, gene expression protocol based on artificial histones, or the treatment of cancer with dendritic nanodevices in the foreseeable future. 

The next step in this development is using dendritic scaffolds for the construction of theranostic nanodevices, that is, systems that combine therapeutic delivery with diagnostic imaging. Such systems are of great interest for more individualized therapy (personalized medicine) in which targeting ligands are also incorporated. Of course, such systems are indeed very complicated and will require much of the synthetic design to be reproducible. Very few examples have so far... 

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