Download Smart poly(acrylic acid) for anticancer drug delivery

Smart poly(acrylic acid) for anticancer drug delivery
A.R. Maniego1,2, E.G. Whitty1,2, D.J. Keddie3, C.M. Fellows3, Y. Guillaneuf4,
M. Gaborieau2, P. Castignolles1,e
1University of Western Sydney (UWS), Australian Centre for Research on Separation
Sciences (ACROSS), School of Science and Health (SSH), Parramatta, 2150,
Australia;
2UWS, Molecular Medicine Research Group (MMRG), SSH, Parramatta, 2150,
Australia;
3 University of New England (UNE), Armidale, 2351, Australia
4 Aix-Marseille University (AMU), Marseille, 13397, France
e: [email protected]
Poly(acrylic acid), PAA, is a pH-responsive polymer, so it falls in the category of
polymers sensitive to changes in their environment and described as “smart” (Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Molecular structure of pH-responsive PAA.
It is an important superabsorbent material, widely used in the industry for
example for nappies. Its synthesis by radical polymerisation is straightforward, but it
leads to a complex branched macromolecular
structure, with short branches and long
branches. While the branching makes PAA
characterisation challenging, it makes it a good
candidate for anticancer drug delivery. Branching
can be used to tune the pKa, which falls in the
range of pH observed in tumours and branching
can also be used to prevent the drug to leak from
the carrier before its delivery in the tumour.
We
have
shown
that
capillary
electrophoresis in the critical conditions (Fig. 2)
and
NMR
spectroscopy
are
highly
complementary to characterize the branched
structure.[1] The methods also proved rapid and
accurate to monitor drug biding to the PAA.
Figure 2: CE of branched PAAs [1].
The authors thank Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright (UWS), Dr Catherine Lefay
(AMU), Dr Dider Gigmes (AMU) for fruitful discussions and Daniel Le.
References
[1] A Maniego, D Ang, Y Guillaneuf, C Lefay, D Gigmes, J Aldrich-Wright, M Gaborieau, P
Castignolles, Separation of poly(acrylic acid) salts according to topology using capillary
electrophoresis in the critical conditions. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2013, 405, 9009.