Chondroitin sulfate-based nanocarriers for drug/gene delivery

In recent years, the naturally occurring polysaccharides captured an increasing amount of attention in the field of drug/gene delivery systems owing to their outstanding propensities, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-immunogenicity, extremely low toxicity, and so on. Chondroitin sulfate (ChS), a member of glycosaminoglycan family, consists of repeating disaccharide units of b-1,3-linked N-acetyl galactosamine (GalNAc) and b-1,4-linked d-glucuronic acid (GlcA) with certain position(s) sulfated, which has been widely applied in nano-sized carriers. This review will focus on shared and unique properties of ChS and its latest development in drug/gene delivery systems. In detail, the application of ChS as nanocarriers will be discussed in three dimensions: self-assembly of hydrophobically modified ChS, ChS decorated nanocarriers, and some other nanocarriers based on ChS. A discussion relating to the future perspectives of ChS-based nanocarriers for drug/gene delivery is also included.