Dendrimer-decorated nanogels: Efficient nanocarriers for biodistribution in vivo and chemotherapy of ovarian carcinoma

Abstract

Nanomedicine has revolutionized disease theranostics by the accurate diagnosis and efficient therapy. Here, the PAMAM dendrimer decorated PVCL-GMA nanogels (NGs) were developed for favorable biodistribution <i>in vivo</i> and enhanced antitumor efficacy of ovarian carcinoma. By an ingenious design, the NGs with a unique structure that GMA-rich domains were localized on the surface were synthesized <i>via</i> precipitation polymerization. After G2 dendrimer decoration, the overall charge is changed from neutral to positive, and the NGs-G2 display the whole charge nature of positively charged corona and neutral core. Importantly, the unique architecture and charge conversion of NGs-G2 have a profound impact on the biodistribution and drug delivery <i>in vivo</i>. As a consequence of this alteration, the NGs-G2 as nanocarriers emerge the highly sought biodistribution of reduced liver accumulation, enhanced tumor uptake, and promoted drug release, resulting in the significantly augmented antitumor efficacy with low side effects. Remarkably, this finding is contrary to some reported work that the nanocarriers with positive charge have preferential liver uptake. Moreover, the NGs-G2 also displayed thermal/pH dual-responsive behaviors, excellent biocompatibility, improved cellular uptake, and stimuli-responsive drug release. Encouragingly, this work demonstrates a novel insight into the strategy for optimizing design, improving biodistribution and enhancing theranostic efficacy of nanocarriers.