Thiacalixarene knots may assist in targeted drug delivery

A paper came out in Materials Chemistry Frontiers.

The group (based at the Institute of Chemistry, Kazan Federal University) has synthesized a hybrid of oligolactic acid where a protein is bound by thiacalixarenes.

A distinct feature of the binding is the formation of stable nanosized systems with transport proteins (bovine serum albumin and hemoglobin).

Nanosized capsules interacting with biopolymers, such as proteins or DNA, are very promising for targeted drug delivery because of their binding properties. Using capsules may help dramatically decrease the concentration of active ingredients and thus stave off side effects.

Team leader, Professor Ivan Stoikov, comments, "Our group is engaged in supramolecular chemistry of cyclophanes – bowl-shaped molecules. We use them as building blocks for nano systems with particles of 100 nanometers and less. For this, both up-down approaches, such as nanolithography, and down-up approaches, such as ours, are used. That is to say, we synthesize molecules which then self-assemble into nanosized particles."

The research has been conducted for three years. KFU partnered up with the Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry (Kazan, Russia) and the Institute of Synthetic Polymeric Materials (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia).

According to Dr. Stoikov, the next step is to create selective bioresorbable materials for biomedical sensors. "Health monitoring preceding observable pathological symptoms is one of the most important development vectors for national healthcare and the diagnostic devices market. For instance, sales of non-contact thermometers, glucometers, and manometers have risen in the past decade."

The choice of such widely used devices will grow. The end point currently is to create implantable sensors for point-of-care health monitoring.

More information:
Olga A. Mostovaya et al. Thiacalixarene “knot” effect on protein binding by oligolactic acid particles, Materials Chemistry Frontiers (2018). DOI: 10.1039/C8QM00435H

Provided by Kazan Federal University