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Abstract
Dendrimers are members of a versatile, fourth new class of polymer architecture (i.e.
dendritic polymers after traditional linear, crosslinked and branched types). Typically,
dendrimers are used as well-defined scaffolding or nanocontainers to conjugate, complex
or encapsulate therapeutic drugs or imaging moieties. As a delivery vector, the dendrimer
conjugate linker or spacer chemistry plays a crucial part in determining optimum drug
delivery to disease sites by conserving active drug efficacy while influencing appropriate
release patterns. This review focuses on several crucial issues related to those dendrimer
features, namely the role of dendrimers as nanoscaffolding and nanocontainers, crucial
principles that might be invoked for improving dendrimer cytotoxicity properties,
understanding dendrimer cellular transport mechanisms and the exciting role of dendrimers
as high-contrast MRI imaging agents. The review concludes with a brief survey of translational
efforts from research and development phases to clinical trials that are actively
emerging.
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