Intracellular Drug Delivery via pH-Sensitive Hydrogel Nanoparticles

摘要

Many drugs such as RNA, proteins, and small molecules must be delivered to the cytosol of cells for their therapeutic functions. Synthetic carriers for intracellular delivery of such molecules are of great interest due to their potentially increased safety and manufacturability. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of cytosolic drug delivery still remains as a significant challenge mainly due to the low efficiency of escape of molecules from acidic endosomal intracellular compartments. Synthetic carrier materials that respond to changes in pH could be useful for drug release from these compartments. Our research is thus investigating the use of synthetic pH-sensitive hydrogel nanoparticles as a novel intracellular drug delivery system, which exhibits pH-triggered endosomal escape.