Advances of cyclodextrin polymers for the delivery of biotech drugs

Currently, biological drugs such as gene, protein, and monoclonal antibody are widely applied in the clinic due to their excellent effectiveness. However, they still have some problems, including poor solubility, instability, toxicity, and weak capability to cross cell membranes. Owing to the specific structure of cyclodextrins (CDs) and the advantage of polymeric backbones, various cyclodextrin polymers (CDPs) have been designed as delivery systems for biotech drugs. In this review, after a brief introduction on CDPs and discussion of their physicochemical and biological properties, we will focus on recent advances in the use of CDPs for the delivery of biotech drugs. This review highlights the structure-function relationship of CDPs to their performance in biotech drug delivery. Finally, an outlook will be proposed on the developing trends and challenge in this field.