Degradable Polymersomes for Targeted Drug Delivery

Abstract

Chemotherapy today is often accompanied by major side effects due to delivery of toxic drugs to healthy tissue in addition to diseased cells. Targeted drug delivery offers the possibility of minimizing these side effects by specific delivery to cancer cells using targeted nanocarriers that enhance drug accumulation in tumors and facilitate target-specific cellular uptake. Polymersomes, vesicles self-assembled from polymeric amphiphiles, are an attractive targeted vehicle, as they are capable of encapsulating both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, have lengthy circulation times in vivo, and can employ degradable functionality for triggered release of payload and clearance from the body. This thesis reports on efforts to enhance the capabilities of degradable polymersomes for targeted delivery. First, targeting functionality is incorporated into polymersomes of the block copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(γ-methyl-ε-caprolactone) by incorporating the reactive vinyl sulfone group into the amphiphile's hydrophilic terminus, allowing site-selective reaction with cysteine-functionalized targeting peptides following self-assembly. The performance of targeted delivery using this polymersome is then evaluated in vitro. Binding and delivery to model cell lines for targeted and bystander cells is tracked using nontargeted polymersomes and compared to that for polymersomes using a high- or low-affinity ligand. Polymer degradation is also tracked both in simple media and during cellular delivery. Finally, a new monomer is developed incorporating acid-labile acetal functionality into a cyclic polyester. The polymerization of this monomer to two distinct polymers is also characterized and the degradation behavior of both polymers evaluated.