Montanari, E, Di Meo, C, Oates, A orcid.org/0000-0003-0519-4556 et al. (2 more authors) (2018) Pursuing Intracellular Pathogens with Hyaluronan. From a ‘Pro-Infection’ Polymer to a Biomaterial for ‘Trojan Horse’ Systems. Molecules, 23 (4). 939. ISSN 1420-3049
Abstract
Hyaluronan (HA) is among the most important bioactive polymers in mammals, playing a key role in a number of biological functions. In the last decades, it has been increasingly studied as a biomaterial for drug delivery systems, thanks to its physico-chemical features and ability to target and enter certain cells. The most important receptor of HA is ‘Cluster of Differentiation 44’ (CD44), a cell surface glycoprotein over-expressed by a number of cancers and heavily involved in HA endocytosis. Moreover, CD44 is highly expressed by keratinocytes, activated macrophages and fibroblasts, all of which can act as ‘reservoirs’ for intracellular pathogens. Interestingly, both CD44 and HA appear to play a key role for the invasion and persistence of such microorganisms within the cells. As such, HA is increasingly recognised as a potential target for nano-carriers development, to pursuit and target intracellular pathogens, acting as a ‘Trojan Horse’. This review describes the biological relationship between HA, CD44 and the entry and survival of a number of pathogens within the cells and the subsequent development of HA-based nano-carriers for enhancing the intracellular activity of antimicrobials.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | hyaluronan; intracellular infections; CD44; nano-carriers; antimicrobial delivery |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Healthcare (Leeds) > Nursing Adult (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Apr 2018 16:05 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:18 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/molecules23040939 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:129795 |