PEGylated Polyurea Bearing Hindered Urea Bond for Drug Delivery

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 24; no. 8; p. 1538
• Main Authors: Chen, Meishan, Feng, Xiangru, Xu, Weiguo, Wang, Yanqiao, Yang, Yanan, Jiang, Zhongyu, Ding, Jianxun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18.04.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: amphiphilic copolymer; Animals; cancer chemotherapy; Cancer therapies; Cell Death - drug effects; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; controlled drug delivery; Drug Delivery Systems; Female; hydrolyzable polyurea; Mice, Inbred BALB C; micelle; Micelles; Nanoparticles; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Paclitaxel - pharmacology; Plasmids; Polyethylene Glycols - chemical synthesis; Polyethylene Glycols - chemistry; Polymers - chemical synthesis; Polymers - chemistry; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Urea - chemical synthesis; Urea - chemistry; controlled drug delivery; micelle; amphiphilic copolymer; hydrolyzable polyurea; cancer chemotherapy
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules24081538

In recent years, polyureas with dynamic hindered urea bonds (HUBs), a class of promising biomedical polymers, have attracted wide attention as a result of their controlled hydrolytic properties. The effect of the chemical structures on the properties of polyureas and their assemblies has rarely been reported. In this study, four kinds of polyureas with different chemical groups have been synthesized, and the polyureas from cyclohexyl diisocyanate and tert-butyl diamine showed the fastest hydrolytic rate. The amphiphilic polyurea composed of hydrophobic cyclohexyl-tert-butyl polyurea and hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was synthesized for the controlled delivery of the antitumor drug paclitaxel (PTX). The PTX-loaded PEGylated polyurea micelle more effectively entered into the murine breast cancer 4T1 cells and inhibited the corresponding tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, the PEGylated polyurea with adjustable degradation might be a promising polymer matrix for drug delivery.