Cyclodextrin-Based Functional Glyconanomaterials

Cyclodextrins (CDs) have long occupied a prominent position in most pharmaceutical laboratories as "off-the-shelve" tools to manipulate the pharmacokinetics of a broad range of active principles, due to their unique combination of biocompatibility and inclusion abilities. The development of precision chemical methods for their selective functionalization, in combination with "click" multiconjugation procedures, have further leveraged the nanoscaffold nature of these oligosaccharides, creating a direct link between the glyco and the nano worlds. CDs have greatly contributed to understand and exploit the interactions between multivalent glycodisplays and carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) and to improve the drug-loading and functional properties of nanomaterials through host-guest strategies. The whole range of capabilities can be enabled through self-assembly, template-assisted assembly or covalent connection of CD/glycan building blocks. This review discusses the advancements made in this field during the last decade and the amazing variety of functional glyconanomaterials empowered by the versatility of the CD component.

Lipid-based mRNA vaccine delivery systems

Synthetic mRNAs can become biopharmaceutics allowing vaccination against cancer, bacterial and virus infections. Clinical trials with direct administration of synthetic mRNAs encoding tumor antigens demonstrated safety and induction of tumor-specific immune responses. Although immune responses are generated by naked mRNAs, their formulations with chemical carriers are expected to provide more specificity and internalization in dendritic cells (DCs) for better immune responses and dose reduction. This review reports lipid-based formulations (LBFs) that have proved preclinical efficacy. The selective delivery of mRNA LBFs to favor intracellular accumulation in DCs and reduction of the effective doses is discussed, notably to decorate LBFs with carbohydrates or glycomimetics allowing endocytosis in DCs. We also report how smart intracellular delivery is achieved using pH-sensitive lipids or polymers for an efficient mRNA escape from endosomes and limitations regarding cytosolic mRNA location for translation.