Non-spherical Polymeric Nanocarriers for Therapeutics: The Effect of Shape on Biological Systems and Drug Delivery Properties

Overview

Journal Pharmaceutics

Publisher MDPI

Date 2023 Jan 21

PMID 36678661

Authors

Prescillia Lagarrigue

Filippo Moncalvo

Francesco Cellesi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This review aims to highlight the importance of particle shape in the design of polymeric nanocarriers for drug delivery systems, along with their size, surface chemistry, density, and rigidity. Current manufacturing methods used to obtain non-spherical polymeric nanocarriers such as filomicelles or nanoworms, nanorods and nanodisks, are firstly described. Then, their interactions with biological barriers are presented, including how shape affects nanoparticle clearance, their biodistribution and targeting. Finally, their drug delivery properties and their therapeutic efficacy, both in vitro and in vivo, are discussed and compared with the characteristics of their spherical counterparts.

Citing Articles

Asymmetric Microgels with Tunable Morphologies by Assembly-Guided Polymerization of Liquid Crystalline Monomers.

Wolter N, Kuttner H, Schmitz J, Karg M, Pich A Small. 2025; 21(7):e2410502.

PMID: 39757498 PMC: 11840453. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202410502.

Production of Plant Virus-Derived Hybrid Nanoparticles Decorated with Different Nanobodies.

Lozano-Sanchez E, Daros J, Merwaiss F ACS Nano. 2024; 18(50):33890-33906.

PMID: 39622501 PMC: 11656832. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c07066.

An orally administered glucose-responsive polymeric complex for high-efficiency and safe delivery of insulin in mice and pigs.

Ji K, Wei X, Kahkoska A, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Xu J Nat Nanotechnol. 2024; 19(12):1880-1891.

PMID: 39223256 PMC: 11646558. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-024-01764-5.

Membrane-coated nanoparticles as a biomimetic targeted delivery system for tumour therapy.

Guo H, Guo M, Xia Z, Shao Z Biomater Transl. 2024; 5(1):33-45.

PMID: 39220664 PMC: 11362346. DOI: 10.12336/biomatertransl.2024.01.004.

Polyester nanoparticles delivering chemotherapeutics: Learning from the past and looking to the future to enhance their clinical impact in tumor therapy.

Longobardi G, Moore T, Conte C, Ungaro F, Satchi-Fainaro R, Quaglia F Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2024; 16(5):e1990.

PMID: 39217459 PMC: 11670051. DOI: 10.1002/wnan.1990.

References

Chen J, Clay N, Kong H . Non-Spherical Particles for Targeted Drug Delivery. Chem Eng Sci. 2015; 125:20-24. PMC: 4378540. DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2014.10.022. View

Barua S, Yoo J, Kolhar P, Wakankar A, Gokarn Y, Mitragotri S . Particle shape enhances specificity of antibody-displaying nanoparticles. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013; 110(9):3270-5. PMC: 3587278. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1216893110. View

Zhao Z, Ukidve A, Krishnan V, Mitragotri S . Effect of physicochemical and surface properties on in vivo fate of drug nanocarriers. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2019; 143:3-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2019.01.002. View

Elsabahy M, Wooley K . Design of polymeric nanoparticles for biomedical delivery applications. Chem Soc Rev. 2012; 41(7):2545-61. PMC: 3299918. DOI: 10.1039/c2cs15327k. View

Paul D, Achouri S, Yoon Y, Herre J, Bryant C, Cicuta P . Phagocytosis dynamics depends on target shape. Biophys J. 2013; 105(5):1143-50. PMC: 3762343. DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2013.07.036. View

Venkataraman S, Hedrick J, Ong Z, Yang C, Ee P, Hammond P . The effects of polymeric nanostructure shape on drug delivery. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2011; 63(14-15):1228-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2011.06.016. View

Sancho Oltra N, Nair P, Discher D . From stealthy polymersomes and filomicelles to "self" Peptide-nanoparticles for cancer therapy. Annu Rev Chem Biomol Eng. 2014; 5:281-99. PMC: 4387849. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-060713-040447. View

Hickey J, Santos J, Williford J, Mao H . Control of polymeric nanoparticle size to improve therapeutic delivery. J Control Release. 2015; 219:536-547. PMC: 4656075. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2015.10.006. View

Jelonek K, Li S, Kasperczyk J, Wu X, Orchel A . Effect of polymer degradation on prolonged release of paclitaxel from filomicelles of polylactide/poly(ethylene glycol) block copolymers. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2017; 75:918-925. DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2017.03.006. View

10.

Mathaes R, Winter G, Besheer A, Engert J . Influence of particle geometry and PEGylation on phagocytosis of particulate carriers. Int J Pharm. 2014; 465(1-2):159-64. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2014.02.037. View

11.

Zhang W, Hong C, Pan C . Efficient Fabrication of Photosensitive Polymeric Nano-objects via an Ingenious Formulation of RAFT Dispersion Polymerization and Their Application for Drug Delivery. Biomacromolecules. 2017; 18(4):1210-1217. DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b01887. View

12.

Champion J, Mitragotri S . Shape induced inhibition of phagocytosis of polymer particles. Pharm Res. 2008; 26(1):244-9. PMC: 2810499. DOI: 10.1007/s11095-008-9626-z. View

13.

He C, Hu Y, Yin L, Tang C, Yin C . Effects of particle size and surface charge on cellular uptake and biodistribution of polymeric nanoparticles. Biomaterials. 2010; 31(13):3657-66. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.01.065. View

14.

Peiris P, Bauer L, Toy R, Tran E, Pansky J, Doolittle E . Enhanced delivery of chemotherapy to tumors using a multicomponent nanochain with radio-frequency-tunable drug release. ACS Nano. 2012; 6(5):4157-68. PMC: 3358486. DOI: 10.1021/nn300652p. View

15.

Fish M, Thompson A, Fromen C, Eniola-Adefeso O . Emergence and Utility of Nonspherical Particles in Biomedicine. Ind Eng Chem Res. 2016; 54(16):4043-4059. PMC: 4864008. DOI: 10.1021/ie504452j. View

16.

Mitchell M, Billingsley M, Haley R, Wechsler M, Peppas N, Langer R . Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2020; 20(2):101-124. PMC: 7717100. DOI: 10.1038/s41573-020-0090-8. View

17.

Zhang , Yu , Eisenberg . Ion-Induced Morphological Changes in "Crew-Cut" Aggregates of Amphiphilic Block Copolymers. Science. 1996; 272(5269):1777-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5269.1777. View

18.

Mullner M, Dodds S, Nguyen T, Senyschyn D, Porter C, Boyd B . Size and rigidity of cylindrical polymer brushes dictate long circulating properties in vivo. ACS Nano. 2015; 9(2):1294-304. DOI: 10.1021/nn505125f. View

19.

Wan X, Min Y, Bludau H, Keith A, Sheiko S, Jordan R . Drug Combination Synergy in Worm-like Polymeric Micelles Improves Treatment Outcome for Small Cell and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. ACS Nano. 2018; 12(3):2426-2439. PMC: 5960350. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b07878. View

20.

Yoo J, Doshi N, Mitragotri S . Endocytosis and Intracellular Distribution of PLGA Particles in Endothelial Cells: Effect of Particle Geometry. Macromol Rapid Commun. 2011; 31(2):142-8. DOI: 10.1002/marc.200900592. View