Zifu Li
Huazhong University of Science and Technolog,China
Title: Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) based smart nanomedicine.
Biography
Biography: Zifu Li
Abstract
Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) is a semi-synthetic polysaccharide and has wide clinical use as plasma volume expander. HES is synthesized from waxy maize, which contains more than 95% of amylopectin. HES is highly water soluble and keeps the branched structure of amylopectin. HES can be categorized into various classes based on its molecular weight, mole substitution of hydroxyethyl, and substitution pattern (C2/C6 ratio). These parameters affect the α-amylase-mediated degradation of HES in blood, thus determine the pharmacokinetics of HES, enabling very convenient ways to tailor the in vivo fates of HES by simply adjusting these parameters. The good manufacturing practice, high water solubility, tailorability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, well defined in vivo safeties, and wide clinical applications make HES a promising drug carrier which warrants clinical translation explorations.
In this talk, we will present our recent progress of HES based smart nanomedicine. We prepared a novel redox-sensitive hydroxyethyl starch-doxorubicin conjugate, HES-SS-DOX, with diameter of 19.9 ± 0.4 nm, to alleviate the side effects and improve the antitumor efficacy of DOX. The redox-sensitive HES-SS-DOX has been proved an effective and safe prodrug of DOX for cancer chemotherapy and could be potentially translated for clinical trials. In fact, our HES-based tumor microenvironment-sensitive prodrug strategy is ready applicable to a wide range of drugs, like PTX, Docetaxel, and 5-Fu, for various cancers.