21-31
MOLECULAR CONCEPTS OF MACROPHAGE TARGETING
Authors: Veaceslav Boldescu, Valeriu Crudu, Natalia Sucman, Serghei Pogrebnoi, Marina Zviaghinţeva, Eugenia Stîngaci, Vsevolod Pogrebnoi, Fliur Macaev
Number of views: 499
Macrophages play an important role in the pathological development of such disorders as cancer,
infl ammatory and certain infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV, dengue virus, and leishmaniasis. Therefore,
macrophage targeting represents an important challenge in design of new medicines. This review gives a general
presentation of small molecule-recognition concepts with application in drug design for macrophage targeting. It
describes different mechanisms and systems for macrophage-targeted delivery, including ligands or small molecule
motifs recognizable by macrophage specific proteins, like receptors (e. g. sialoadhesin, folate, galactose, mannose,
β-glucan, and scavenger, tuftsin receptors) or enzymes (carboxylesterase-1), pathways for their obtaining and routes
of their application.