3. POLYMER-BASED AND NANOTUBE DRUG DELIVERY

This aspect of my research is carried out with collaboration with Dr. Reza Mehvar at Texas Tech. School of Pharmacy. Our hypothesis is that the dextran-drug conjugates will preferentially accumulate in the liver, where it gradually regenerates the active drug, resulting in sustained local effect in live. The aim of the present study is to synthesize and characterize conjugate of antiviral, anticancer, or immunosuppressive agents with dextran, intended for selective delivery of the drug to the liver. We are also collaborating with Dr. Geoffrey Bothun in Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Rhode Island to design cell-penetrating peptides and to evaluate their interactions with phospholipid bilayer membranes.

1. Penugonda, S., Kumar, A., Agarwal, H. K., Parang, K., Mehvar, R. Synthesis and in vitro characterization of novel dextran-methylprednisolone conjugates with peptide linkers: Effects of linker length on hydrolytic and enzymatic release of methylprednisolone and its peptidyl intermediates. J. Pharm. Sci. (2008) 97, 2649-2664.

2. Chimalakonda, C., Agarwal, H., Kumar, A., Parang, K., Mehvar, R. Synthesis, analysis, in vitro characterization, and in vivo disposition of a lamivudine-dextran conjugate for selective antiviral delivery to the liver. Bioconjugate Chem. (2007) 18, 2097-2108.

3. Ye, G., Nam, N. H., Saleh, A., Kumar, A., Sun, G., Shenoy, D. B., Amiji, M. M., Parang, K. Cellular delivery of phosphopeptides with tripodal peptide analogues. J. Med. Chem. (2007) 50, 3604-3617.