Dual pH/enzyme Sensitive Crosslinked Casein Micelles as Nanotransporters of Hydrophobic Drugs

GREGOR NAGEL; CECILIA I. ALVAREZ IGARZABAL; MATIAS L. PICCHIO; STEFANIE WEDEPOHL; LUIS M. GUGLIOTTA; JULIO C CUGGINO; ROQUE J MINARI; MARCELO CALDERÓN

Balatonfüred, Hungría

Conferencia; 4th International Conference on Bio-based Polymers and Composites, BIPOCO; 2018

Universidad de Budapest

In recent years, a considerable interest has been made in the development of noveldrug delivery devices based on caseins due to their exceptional characteristics, namely biodegradability,non-antigenicity, abundant renewable sources and extraordinary binding capacityof various drugs [1]. Moreover, owing to multiple functional groups in the primary sequencesof polypeptides, casein can be exploited to create different interactions with therapeuticcompounds and subsequently form three-dimensional networks offering a variety of possibilitiesfor reversible binding to active molecules, protecting them in a matrix as well as specifictargeting to the site of action [2]. Caseins have also the ability to assemble in micelles,by binding with Ca+2 ions. These micelles could be chemically modified to improve theirstructural stability, and become excellent nanocarriers for water-insoluble drugs, which currentlyhave a limited used in the pharmaceutical industry due to their poor solubility. Furthermore,casein-based micelles are prone to suffer proteolysis by enzymes, which could beoverexpressed in tumor cell, and thus triggering the drug release after degradation [3]. Thiswork addresses the use of casein as starting biopolymer for the design of a nanoparticulatesmart delivery system.