Recently, the antitumor potential of benzimidazole anthelmintics, such as mebendazole and its analogues, have been reported to have minimal side effects, in addition to their well-known anti-parasitic abilities. However, their administration is strongly limited owing to their extremely poor solubility, which highly depletes their overall bioavailability. This study describes the design, synthesis, and physico-chemical properties of polymer-mebendazole nanomedicines for drug repurposing in cancer therapy. The conjugation of mebendazole to water-soluble and biocompatible polymer carrier was carried out via biodegradable bond, relying on the hydrolytic action of lysosomal hydrolases for mebendazole release inside the tumor cells. Five low-molecular-weight mebendazole derivatives, differing in their inner structure, and two polymer conjugates differing in their linker structure, were synthesized. The overall synthetic strategy was designed to enable the modification and polymer conjugation of most benzimidazole-based anthelmintics, such as albendazole, fenbendazole or albendazole, besides the mebendazole. Furthermore, the described methodology may be suitable for conjugation of other biologically active compounds with a heterocyclic N-H group in their molecules.

• Klíčová slova
• HPMA, controlled release, drug delivery, drug repurposing, mebendazole, polymer,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Design, controlled synthesis, physico-chemical and biological characteristics of novel well-defined biodegradable star-shaped copolymers intended for advanced drug delivery is described. These new biocompatible star copolymers were synthesised by grafting monodispersed semitelechelic linear (sL) N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymers onto a 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (bisMPA)-based polyester dendritic core of various structures. The hydrodynamic diameter of the star copolymer biomaterials can be tuned from 13 to 31 nm and could be adjusted to a given purpose by proper selection of the bisMPA dendritic core type and generation and by considering the sL copolymer molecular weight and polymer-to-core molar ratio. The hydrolytic degradation was proved for both the star copolymers containing either dendron or dendrimer core, showing the spontaneous hydrolysis in duration of few weeks. Finally, it was shown that the therapy with the biodegradable star conjugate with attached doxorubicin strongly suppresses the tumour growth in mice and is fully curative in most of the treated animals at dose corresponding approximately to one fourth of maximum tolerated dose (MTD) value. Both new biodegradable systems show superior efficacy and tumour accumulation over the first generation of star copolymers containing non-degradable PAMAM core.

• Klíčová slova
• Cancer, Doxorubicin, Drug delivery, HPMA, Star-like polymers, bisMPA,
• MeSH
• akrylamidy MeSH
• biokompatibilní materiály * MeSH
• doxorubicin MeSH
• léčivé přípravky * MeSH
• lékové transportní systémy MeSH
• methakryláty MeSH
• myši MeSH
• nádorové buněčné linie MeSH
• nosiče léků MeSH
• polymery MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
• Názvy látek
• akrylamidy MeSH
• biokompatibilní materiály * MeSH
• doxorubicin MeSH
• hydroxypropyl methacrylate MeSH Prohlížeč
• léčivé přípravky * MeSH
• methakryláty MeSH
• N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide MeSH Prohlížeč
• nosiče léků MeSH
• polymery MeSH