When pullulan is modified with a hydrophobic functionality, such as cholesterol, the pullulan derivative forms self-assembled vesicles that can encapsulate a hydrophobic drug. With the hydrophobic functional group, the pullulan derivative is an amphiphilic molecule, which when in an aqueous environment forms a micelle. This micelle has a hydrophilic exterior with the pullulan backbone and a hydrophobic core due to the functional group added to the pullulan. The nanoparticles formed are spherical, have an average size of 20-30 nanometers according to dynamic light scattering measurements, and are able to be maintained in physiological conditions. Cholesteryl-pullulan (CHP) is an example of a pullulan derivative that is capable of forming self-assembled mechanisms and has been used to anticancer drugs. The size of the self-assembled nanoparticle can be adjusted by changing the amount of cholesterol attached to the pullulan. The higher the number of cholesterol substitutions, the smaller the nanoparticle created.  PA and folated PA (FPA) have been created and form self-assembled nanoparticles, which have been used to deliver epirubicin. Pullulan derivatives have been combined with gold to form self-assembled nanoparticles that were capable of loading doxorubicin. Pullulan-dexamethasone bioconjugates have been created which also exhibit self-assembling nanoparticles that have an approximate size of 400 nanometers and have shown to extend the release of the dexamethasone.