Over the last few decades, biological macromolecular drugs (e.g., peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids) have become a significant therapeutic modality for the treatment of various diseases. These drugs are considered superior to small-molecule drugs because of their high specificity and favorable safety profiles. However, such drugs are limited by their low oral bioavailability and short half-lives. Biological macromolecular drugs are typically administrated via invasive methods, e.g., intravenous or subcutaneous injections, which can be painful and induce needle phobia. Noninvasive transdermal delivery is an alternative administration route for the local and systemic delivery of biological macromolecular drugs. However, a challenge with the noninvasive transdermal delivery of biological macromolecular drugs is the outermost layer of the skin, known as the stratum corneum, which is a physical barrier that restricts the entry of extraneous macromolecules. Iontophoresis (IP) relies on the application of a low level of electricity for transdermal drug delivery, in order to facilitate the skin permeation of hydrophilic and charged molecules. The IP of several biological macromolecular drugs has recently been investigated. Herein, we review the IP-mediated noninvasive transdermal delivery of biological macromolecular drugs, their routes of skin permeation, their underlying mechanisms, and their advance applications.
Low electric treatment (LET) promotes intracellular delivery of naked siRNA by altering cellular physiology. However, which signaling molecules and cellular events contribute to LET-mediated siRNA uptake are unclear. Here, we used isobaric tags in relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) proteomic analysis to identify changes in the levels of phosphorylated proteins that occur during cellular uptake of siRNA promoted by LET. iTRAQ analysis revealed that heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90)α and myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate (Marcks) were highly phosphorylated following LET of NIH 3T3 cells, but not untreated cells. Furthermore, the levels of phosphorylated Hsp90α and protein kinase C (PKC)γ were increased by LET both with siRNA and liposomes having various physicochemical properties used as model macromolecules, suggesting that PKCγ activated partly by Ca2+ influx as well as Hsp90 chaperone function were involved in LET-mediated cellular siRNA uptake. Furthermore, LET with siRNA induced activation of Rho GTPase via Hsp90 and PKC, which could contribute to cellular siRNA uptake accompanied by actin cytoskeleton remodeling. Collectively, our results suggested that LET-induced Rho GTPase activation via Hsp90 and PKC would participate in actin-dependent cellular uptake of siRNA.
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