Table 9.
Summary of selected studies regarding efficient delivery of taxanes and other APIs in cancer therapy, conducted with thiomer-based formulations.
| Thiomer | Formulation | Loaded Compound | Cancer Cells Studied In Vitro | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thiolated CTS | Nanoparticles (PMMA core + CTS–GSH conjugate coating) |
Paclitaxel | NIH 3T3 and T47D (breast carcinoma) cells | [37] |
| Thiolated CTS | Nanoparticles (PMMA core + thiolated chitosan coating) |
Docetaxel | Caco-2 (colorectal adenocarcinoma) and MCF-7 (breast carcinoma) cell lines | [27] |
| Thiolated CTS | Nanoparticles (PLA–PCL–TPGS core + thiolated chitosan coating) |
Paclitaxel | A549 (adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelia) cells | [151] |
| Thiolated HA–OA |
Nanoparticles (HA–OA conjugate functionalized with NAC) |
Paclitaxel | Caco-2 cells and Caco-2/HT29 cell monolayer (human colon cancer cell lines) |
[155] |
| Thiolated polycarbophil |
Nanoparticles | Paclitaxel | Only in vivo studies (wild-type rats vs. mammary-cancer-induced rats) | [156] |
| Thiolated OPV | Nanoparticles | Paclitaxel | A549 (adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelia) cells | [158] |
| Thiolated sodium alginate | Nanoparticles (fluorescein-labelled wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated disulfide-crosslinked sodium alginate) |
Docetaxel | HT-29 (human colon cancer) cells and L929 (mouse fibroblast) cells | [160] |
| Thiolated PEG + maleimide-functionalized HA | Microbeads | Docetaxel | NIH/3T3 (mouse embryonic fibroblast) cells and 4T1 (mouse breast cancer) cells | [167] |
| Dextran a | Hydrogel (dextran + thiolated human serum albumin) |
Paclitaxel | - | [161] |
| PMAG + poly(amino acid) | Nanoparticles | Paclitaxel | A549 (human lung carcinoma) and MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cells | [159] |
| Thiolated CTS c | Nanostructured lipid carrier (lipid core + thiolated chitosan coating) |
Curcumin | Isolated rabbit cornea cells | [125] |
| Thiolated CTS c | Nanoparticles (based on CTS–NAC or CTS–NAP) |
Doxorubicin and antisense oligonucleotides | T47D (human breast epithelial tumor) cells | [114] |
| Thiolated hexanoyl glycol CTS c | Mucoadhesive thermogelling polymer | - | HeLa (cervical cancer) cells, human fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and epithelial cell aggregate | [113] |
| Thiolated HA c | Micelleplexes (polymetformin + hyaluronic acid) | Doxorubicin and plasmid-encoding IL-12 gene | 4T1 (mouse breast cancer) cell line | [136] |
| Thiolated amidized glycol CTS c | Dual secured nano-sting |
Melittin and other amphipathic peptides | MCF-7 (breast carcinoma), HCT-116 (human colon cancer), SKOV-3 (human ovarian cancer), and NCI/ADR–RES (ovarian tumor) cell lines | [55] |
| PLGA and OCTS b,c | Nanoparticles | CHC and CTX | U251 and SW1088 (glioma cell lines) | [80] |
| Thiolated carboxymethyl chitosan c | Nanoparticles | Methotrexate | HeLa (cervical cancer) cells | [25] |
| POEGA + PDEGA (star polymers) | Nanoparticles | - | Jurkat (T-ALL) and Nalm-6 (B-ALL) cancer cell lines | [163] |
a This work did not use a thiolated polymer per se for the synthesis of nanoparticles, but involved a polymer linked with disulfide bonds to thiolated human serum albumin. b This work did not use a thiolated polymer per se for the synthesis of nanoparticles but involved a PEG crosslinker to link the loaded compounds to the polymer via Michael reaction. c These works correspond to approaches that were not directly applied to taxanes, but can be considered as new horizons and references when tackling newer formulations for the administration of these APIs. CHC: alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid; CTS: chitosan; CTX: cetuximab; GSH: reduced glutathione; HA–OA: hyaluronic acid–octadecylamine; IL-12: interleukin 12; NAC: N-acetylcysteine; NAP: N-acetylpenicillamine; OCTS: oligomeric chitosan; OPV: oligo(p-phenylenevinylene); PDEGA: poly(diethylene glycol ethyl ether acrylate); PEG: polyethylenge glycol; PLA–PCL–TPGS: poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone)-d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate; PLGA: poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid); PMAG: poly(2-deoxy-2-methacrylamido-d-glucose); PMMA: poly(methyl methacrylate); POEGA: poly(oligoethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate).