abstract
A plethora of applications using polysaccharides have been developed in recent years due to their availability as well as their frequent nontoxicity and biodegradability. These polymers are usually obtained from renewable sources or are byproducts of industrial processes, thus, their use is collaborative in waste management and shows promise for an enhanced sustainable circular economy. Regarding the development of novel delivery systems for biotherapeutics, the potential of polysaccharides is attractive for the previously mentioned properties and also for the possibility of chemical modification of their structures, their ability to form matrixes of diverse architectures and mechanical properties, as well as for their ability to maintain bioactivity following incorporation of the biomolecules into the matrix. Biotherapeutics, such as proteins, growth factors, gene vectors, enzymes, hormones, DNA/RNA, and antibodies are currently in use as major therapeutics in a wide range of pathologies. In the present review, we summarize recent progress in the development of polysaccharide-based hydrogels of diverse nature, alone or in combination with other polymers or drug delivery systems, which have been implemented in the delivery of biotherapeutics in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields.
keywords
HYALURONIC-ACID HYDROGELS; GROWTH-FACTOR DELIVERY; BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN-2; BIODEGRADABLE DEXTRAN HYDROGELS; CROSS-LINKED HYDROGELS; CARRAGEENAN-BASED HYDROGELS; IN-VITRO CHARACTERIZATION; CHITOSAN-BASED HYDROGELS; SELF-HEALING HYDROGEL; CONTROLLED-RELEASE
subject category
Materials Science, Biomaterials
authors
Rial-Hermida, MI; Rey-Rico, A; Blanco-Fernandez, B; Carballo-Pedrares, N; Byrne, EM; Mano, JF
our authors
João Mano
Vice Directoracknowledgements
M. I. Rial-Hermida acknowledges Xunta de Galicia for her postdoctoral grant (Grant ED481B 2018/009). A. Rey-Rico acknowledges Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Grant RTI2018-099389-A-100) for the funding and for the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (Grant RYC2018-025617-I). B. BlancoFernandez is thankful to the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (Grant 712754) and the Severo Ochoa grant (Grant SEV2014-0425). The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; Portugal) is also acknowledged for the funding of the MARGEL Project (Grant PTDC/BTM-MAT/31498/2017) and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Grants UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020 actions. E. M. Byrne is acknowledged for reviewing this manuscript for English language.