Worm-like micelles from amphiphilic diblock copolymers represent a very attractive structure for drug delivery due to both high drug loading per carrier and longer in vivo circulation times compared to spherical assemblies.[1,2] By introducing functionalities in the block copolymer responsive to disease environments the performance of such systems can be in principle enhanced. Here, we describe a diblock copolymer containing a disulfide group connecting both blocks of poly(ethylene oxide)-S-S-poly(e-caprolactone), or PEO-S-S-PCL which self-assembles into worm-like micelles and undergoes degradation under reducing conditions. Further applications of such assemblies would include the delivery of siRNA by incorporating an oligonucleotide-S-S-PCL block copolymer in the assembly. The applicability of such a drug-delivery vehicle is significantly broadened by such responsive functionality.[1] D. A. Christian, S. Cai, O. B. Garbuzenko, T. Harada, A. L. Zajac, T. Minko, D. E. Discher, Mol. Pharm. 6: 1343-1352 (2009).[2] S.M. Loverde, M.L. Klein, D.E. Discher. Adv. Mat. 24: 3823-3830 (2012). 

Reductive degradation of poly(ethylene oxide)-S-S-poly(&epsi;-caprolactone) assemblies for drug and siRNA delivery

245th National Meeting (2013)

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