Enhanced Delivery of Anticancer Drugs to Cancer Cells... Pukyong National University Develops 'Smart Drug Delivery System'

Byunguk Kim, Professor Taek Lim Kwon, and Professor Sanghyuk Park's Research Team
Development of "Oxidation-Reduction Reaction Cross-Linked Maltoheptaose-Based Micelle"

A research team at Pukyong National University (President Bae Sanghoon) has developed a 'smart drug delivery system' that enhances the efficiency of anticancer drug delivery to cancer cells.

The system, called an 'oxidation-reduction reaction cross-linked maltoheptaose-based micelle,' was developed by a research team with Byunguk Kim, a PhD graduate (Department of Convergence Bionics Engineering for the Fourth Industrial Revolution), as the first author, and Kwon Taek Lim, emeritus professor, and Sanghyuk Park, professor (Department of Biomedical Engineering), as corresponding authors.

Byunguk Kim PhD graduate (first author), Kwon Taek Lim emeritus professor, Sanghyuk Park professor. Courtesy of Pukyong National University

This system was developed to overcome the limitations of low anticancer efficacy caused by the nonspecific delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin. Doxorubicin is a highly effective anticancer agent used in the treatment of various cancers, but it is limited by its numerous side effects.

The system developed by the Pukyong National University research team consists of an A2B miktoarm block copolymer based on maltoheptaose, a biocompatible oligosaccharide. It is designed to selectively release the drug only upon reaching cancer cells, without affecting normal tissues in the body, by utilizing internal cross-linking through disulfide or diselenide bonds.

Experimental results from the research team showed that this system demonstrated high drug loading efficiency, biocompatibility with normal cells, and strong anticancer effects against cancer cells.

Professor Sanghyuk Park stated, "This study is significant in that it presents a new approach to overcoming the early leakage of drugs in the bloodstream and the resulting various side effects, which have been problems with existing drug delivery systems. It is expected to attract significant attention from both academia and industry, as it could be applied to precision anticancer drug delivery systems and nano drug delivery platforms designed to reduce side effects in the future."

The research findings were published in the recent article, 'Redox-responsive core-cross-linked micelles of miktoarm maltoheptaose-b-poly(furfuryl methacrylate) for enhanced anticancer drug delivery,' in a world-renowned international journal in the field of chemistry and materials engineering (JCR top 0.9%).