Synthesis of new nanomaterials based on biodegradable supramolecular nanohydrogels for applications in drug delivery

Abstract

The major drawback of current anticancer drugs is that they indiscriminately attack both cancerous and healthy cells, resulting in harmful side effects in patients. Nanomaterials have been showing that their size and multifunctionality can be tailored to selectively attack the diseased tissues. In this project, our team proposes the development of new biodegradable multifunctional nanomaterials based on supramolecular nanohydrogels, for application in drug delivery selectively into cancer cells, and imaging of diseased tissues. The project will focus on the synthesis the new materials, their functionalization with cancer drugs and imaging agents, and evaluation of their in vitro behavior. The nanohydrogels proposed here should overcome the main problems of this field because they are designed to present high biocompatibility, biodegradability, high drug loading, selectivity towards cancer cells and controlled drug release. The cytotoxicity of the new nanomaterials will be tested against several cell lines in order to define if these materials are valid candidates for drug delivery platforms. Still in this project, we will use the new nanohydrogels to carry an extensive study on the apoptotic effects of the calcium overload inside the cancer cells. At the end of the project, we expect to have developed a new drug delivery system and demonstrate through in vitro experiments that the new system presents significant anti-cancer activity, and is a valid candidate for in vivo tests. (AU)