Polyethylenimine‐Based Nanogels for Biomedical Applications

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience Vol. 19; no. 11; pp. e1900272 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zou, Yu, Li, Du, Shen, Mingwu, Shi, Xiangyang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.11.2019
• Subjects: bioimaging; Biomedical materials; Crosslinking; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Drug development; gene delivery; Medical imaging; nanogels; Polyethyleneimine; polyethylenimine; Structure-function relationships; gene delivery; drug delivery; nanogels; polyethylenimine; bioimaging
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.201900272

Nanogels (NGs) are 3‐dimensional (3D) networks composed of hydrophilic or amphiphilic polymer chains, allowing for effective and homogeneous encapsulation of drugs, genes, or imaging agents for biomedical applications. Polyethylenimine (PEI), possessing abundant positively charged amine groups, is an ideal platform for the development of NGs. A variety of effective PEI‐based NGs have been designed and much effort has been devoted to study the relationship between the structure and function of the NGs. In particular, PEI‐based NGs can be prepared either using PEI as the major NG component or using PEI as a crosslinker. This review reports the recent progresses in the design of PEI‐based NGs for gene and drug delivery and for bioimaging applications with a target focus to tackle the diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Polyethylenimine (PEI)‐based nanogels (NGs) can be prepared either using PEI as the major NG component or using PEI as a crosslinker. This review updates the recent progresses on PEI‐based NGs for gene and drug delivery as well as for bioimaging applications, with a specific focus on the development of NG platforms for cancer diagnosis and therapy.