Furthermore, modifying contrast agents with polylysine has been shown to improve performance, including increasing cellular uptake and stability. Because of such characteristics, polylysine has been used to deliver various cargos such as small-molecule drugs, genes, proteins, and imaging agents. Although polylysine is intrinsically pH-responsive, the conjugation with different functional groups imparts smart, stimuli-responsive traits by adding pH-, temperature-, hypoxia-, redox-, and enzyme-responsive features for enhanced delivery of therapeutic agents. As a cationic macromolecule, a polylysine polymer electrostatically interacts with cells and is efficiently internalized, thereby enabling intracellular delivery.
Polylysine and materials that integrate lysine form promising drug delivery platforms.
