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WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol
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Dendrimers—revolutionary drugs for infectious diseases

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Over recent years innovative nanomolecules in a form of dendrimers have been gaining increasing interest. These compounds can be designed and modified in many ways giving a molecule which meets required expectations. For this reason dendrimers are the object of intensive studies in many fields of nanoscience including one of the most thriving—biomedicine. Numerous studies provide evidence that some dendrimers exhibit activities against many species/strains of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and prions. These types of dendritic nanostructures which are distinguished by antipathogenic properties and low cytotoxicity to eukaryotic cells may be potentially applied in medicine as novel drugs for various infectious diseases, especially those which are persistent, marked by high mortality rate, or untreatable. Dendrimers can exert their effect via different mechanisms of action, which are, in most cases, related to multivalency of the nanomolecule. The application of dendrimers is likely to be a breakthrough in prevention and treatment of infectious diseases which still beset humanity and may significantly improve the quality of people's life. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2012, 4:469–491. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1181

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Figure 1.

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) G3 as a representation of a typical dendrimer structure.

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Figure 2.

Chemical structure of the polypropyleneimine dendrimer G3.

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Figure 3.

Chemical structure of the poly‐l‐lysine dendrimer G3.

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Figure 4.

Chemical structure of the carbosilane dendrimer G3.

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Figure 5.

Chemical structure of the phosphorus dendrimer G2.

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Figure 6.

Chemical structure of N‐acetylneuraminic (sialic) acid.

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Figure 7.

Strategies of inhibition of viral and bacterial infections using dendrimers. The invasion of the cell by viruses can be prevented by dendrimers which coat viral envelope receptors and thereby make interactions with the host cell impossible. Another mechanism consists in the blockage of host cell receptors by dendrimers which precludes attachment of viral particles to this cell. The inhibition of bacterial (and also fungal) infections is based on electrostatic interactions between positively charged groups of dendrimers and the negatively charged bacterial (or fungal) membrane which results in its disintegration and release of cell content. C, capsule; CM, cell membrane; CW, cell wall; D, dendrimer; V, virus.

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Figure 8.

Schematic representation of fan, ball, and dumbbell‐shaped carbosilane dendrimers.

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Figure 9.

The chemical structure of SPL7013 dendrimer.

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Figure 10.

Trifunctional and hexafunctional‐cored phosphorus dendrimers surface‐modified with an analogue of natural galactosylceramide (GalCer).

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Figure 11.

New antibacterial G1 dendrimers possessing tris‐amino acids (a) or tetrakis‐amino alcohols (b) as core compounds.

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Robert Langer

works at the interface of biotechnology and materials science. His lab is researching many topics, such as investigating the mechanism of release from polymeric delivery systems with concomitant microstructural analysis and mathematical modeling; studying applications of these systems including the development of effective long-term delivery systems for insulin, anti-cancer drugs, growth factors, gene therapy agents and vaccines; developing controlled release systems that can be magnetically, ultrasonically, or enzymatically triggered to increase release rates; synthesizing new biodegradable polymeric delivery systems which will ultimately be absorbed by the body; creating new approaches for delivering drugs such as proteins and genes across complex barriers such as the blood-brain barrier, the intestine, the lung and the skin; stem cell research including controlling growth and differentiation; and creating new biomaterials with shape memory or surface switching properties.

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