Tumoricidal capacity

Dextran can be modified easily and cationic derivatives are obtained by reaction with diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) reagents or spermine. DEAE-dextran is one of the pioneer cationic polymers for gene delivery. However, PLL and other synthetic polymers have replaced dextran these days because of low transfection efficiency and toxicity problems of DEAE-dextran. Spermine-dextran (MW 9000-11 000 g mol ) is used as an siRNA delivery agent to cancer cells, with low toxicity and high loading capacity on HeLa-Zwc cells, and was proved to be a safe and effective acid-sensitive carrier for gene delivery by Cohen et al. Researchers showed that cationic dextran derivatives (MW 70 kDa) have also reverse tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) polarization, promote IL-12 expression in tumor TAMs and thereby enhance the tumoricidal capacity of TAMs. ... 

The uptake and location of pyran into the macrophage is of central importance in understanding the mechanism(s) by which these polyanionic polymers activate the macrophage to tumoricidal capacity. Very few studies have been addressed to this question with the exception of those performed by Pratten et al. [35]. 

Yamamoto, N., Hoober, J.K., and Yamamoto, S., Tumoricidal capacities of macrophages photody-namically activated with hematoporphyrin derivative, Photochem. PhotobioL, 56, 245, 1992. 

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