New therapies are urgently needed against melanoma, one of the most aggressive tumors. Melanoma cells are resistant to the antifolate methotrexate (MTX), since MTX is taken up by the folate receptor-α (FRα), sequestered in melanosomes and exported out of the cell. The bisphosphonate zoledronic acid (ZOL) is active in several non-skeletal tumors; however, its antitumoral activity is hampered by ...

A gene drug delivery system for glioma therapy based on transferrin (Tf)-modified polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM) was prepared. Gene drug, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (hTRAIL)-encoding plasmid open reading frame (pORF-hTRAIL, Trail), was condensed by Tf-modified PAMAM to form nanoparticles (NPs). PAMAM-PEG-Tf/DNA NPs showed higher cellular uptake, in vitro gene expr...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) poses great difficulties for gene delivery to the brain. To circumvent the BBB, we investigated a novel brain-targeting gene vector based on the nanoscopic high-branching dendrimer, polyamidoamine (PAMAM), in vitro and in vivo. Transferrin (Tf) was selected as a brain-targeting ligand conjugated to PAMAM via bifunctional polyethyleneglycol (PEG), yielding PAMAM-PEG...

We report, for the first time, on the preparation, characterization and in vitro testing of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles loaded with polyamidoamine (PAMAM)-plasmid DNA (pDNA) dendriplexes. Loading of pDNA into the PLGA microparticles increased by 150% when pDNA was first complexed with PAMAM dendrimers relative to loading of pDNA alone. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)...

A third-generation polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM G3) was used as a macromolecular carrier for pyridoxal and biotin. The binary covalent bioconjugate of G3, with nine molecules of biotin per one molecule of G3 (G3(9B)), and the ternary covalent bioconjugate of G3, with nine biotin and ten pyridoxal molecules (G3(9B10P)), were synthesized. The biotin and pyridoxal residues of the bioconjugate w...

objective: dendrimers are three-dimensional nanostructures that have numerous applications in medicine, including drug delivery and imaging. although anionic dendrimer polyethylene glycol–citrate has a high potential to increase solubility of water-insoluble drugs and drug delivery, its multi-step synthesis procedure is time consuming. in addition, toxic substances such as dichloromethane are u...