Multivalency: Enhancing Local Concentration in Drug Targeting

This lecture discusses the concept of multivalency and its role in enhancing local concentration for drug targeting. The instructor begins by explaining the principle of multivalency using everyday examples, such as Velcro, to illustrate how multiple interactions can create stronger binding. The lecture then transitions to a more scientific perspective, detailing how ligands can be coupled to increase their effective molarity, thereby enhancing the likelihood of binding to receptors. The instructor emphasizes the importance of local concentration in binding interactions and introduces the concept of effective molarity as a metric for understanding these interactions. The discussion includes mathematical formulations for calculating binding affinities in multivalent systems, highlighting how coupling ligands can significantly improve interaction strength. The lecture concludes with practical applications of multivalency in drug delivery systems, emphasizing the engineering considerations necessary for effective targeting, including ligand density and spacing. Overall, the lecture provides a comprehensive overview of how multivalency can be leveraged to improve therapeutic outcomes in drug delivery.