Abstract
[Display omitted]
Cancer immunotherapy has been researched as a major modality of treatment which involves activating the immune system of the patient to fight against tumor cells. Dendrimers are globular man-made nanoparticles with a notable hyperbranching 3D structure. These are multivalent, structurally versatile and multifunctional in regards to its physicochemical properties. Dendrimers have been utilized extensively as a novel drug delivery system overcoming many hurdles faced by conventional delivery mechanisms. In this review we explore the properties of various dendrimers and their ability to form a range of bonds with different functional groups with high specificity. These include physically bonded conjugates such as hydrogels, unimolecular dendrimer micelles and encapsulating dendrimers as well as chemically bonded complexes such as glycodendrimers, peptide dendrimers and DNA-dendrimer complexes. Toxicological studies reveal increasing toxicity in newer generations of dendrimers. It is hypothesized that this increase and abnormal distribution in biological systems is due to their highly polycationic nature which can be mitigated via attachment of anionic or neutral ligand groups. Dendrimer play an important role in cancer immunotherapy and has seen widespread applications in vaccine delivery, cytokine mediated therapy and monoclonal antibodies for targeted therapy. Recent in vitro and in vivo research on the biological functionalities of dendrimers has led to their significant usage as nanomedicine carriers. In conclusion, dendrimers and related technologies has tremendous promise in solving common problems associated with existing cancer therapies and may become a foremost therapeutic for cancer in the coming years.