Thiolated polymers designated “thiomers” are obtained by covalent attachment of thiol functionalities on the polymeric backbone of polymers. In 1998 these polymers were first described as mucoadhesive and in situ gelling compounds forming disulfide bonds with cysteine-rich substructures of mucus glycoproteins and crosslinking through inter- and intrachain disulfide bond formation. In the following, it was shown that thiomers are able to form disulfides with keratins and membrane-associated proteins exhibiting also cysteine-rich substructures. Furthermore, permeation enhancing, enzyme inhibiting and efflux pump inhibiting properties were demonstrated. Because of these capabilities thiomers are promising tools for drug delivery guaranteeing a strongly prolonged residence time as well as sustained release on mucosal membranes. Apart from that, thiomers are used as drugs per se. In particular, for treatment of dry eye syndrome various thiolated polymers are in development and a first product has already reached the market. Within this review an overview about the thiomer-technology and its potential for different applications is provided discussing especially the outcome of studies in non-rodent animal models and that of numerous clinical trials. Moreover, an overview on product developments is given.

通过将硫醇官能团共价连接到聚合物的聚合物主链上，可获得称为“硫代聚合物”的硫代聚合物。1998年，这些聚合物首次被描述为黏膜粘着剂和原位与粘液糖蛋白富含半胱氨酸的亚结构形成二硫键的胶凝化合物，并通过链间和链内二硫键的形成进行交联。在下文中，显示出硫代聚合物能够与角蛋白和膜相关蛋白形成二硫化物，所述蛋白还显示出富含半胱氨酸的亚结构。此外，证明了渗透增强，酶抑制和外排泵抑制性质。由于这些功能，硫代聚合物是用于药物输送的有前途的工具，可确保强烈延长的停留时间以及在粘膜上的持续释放。除此之外，硫代聚合物本身被用作药物。特别地，用于治疗干眼症的各种硫醇化聚合物正在开发中，并且第一产品已经进入市场。在这篇综述中，提供了有关硫聚物技术及其在不同应用中的潜力的概述，尤其是讨论了非啮齿类动物模型的研究结果以及许多临床试验的结果。此外，给出了产品开发的概述。