Compositions and methods for nanoparticle-based drug delivery and imaging

Abstract

Methods and compositions described herein use polysaccharide nanoparticles (or polysaccharide-coated nanoparticles) to retain and deliver unaltered therapeutic agents to sites of disease. The polysaccharide nanoparticles are non-covalently associated with the unaltered therapeutic agent. The polysaccharide is able to retain cargo (drugs, diagnostics, etc.) without chemical modification of the agent. The nanoparticle maintains its association with the agent through non-covalent interactions but releases its agent in response to changes in the microenvironment, e.g., at the site of cancer cells or cancer tissue.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.