A review on lipid-based nanocarriers mimicking chylomicron and their potential in drug delivery and targeting infectious and cancerous diseases

Abstract

Infectious and cancerous diseases are tedious to manage. The problem of drug resistance is often associated with anti-microbial and anti-cancer agents and is one of the most significant challenges that restrict their activity. Therefore, it is necessary to increase doses or drug combinations. However, introducing drugs in this way is often ineffective due to poor solubility, low bioavailability, reduced stability, and different drug pharmacokinetic parameters. Vesicular nanocarriers are considered promising for effective drug delivery and overcoming drug resistance. Lipid-based drug delivery systems (LBDDS) such as emulsomes (EMLs) can solve many problems associated with drug physicochemical properties. EMLs share structural similarities with liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs). The main components of emulsomal preparation are triglycerides (TG), phospholipids (PC), and cholesterol (Chol). These systems provide greater stability and pharmacokinetic parameters in vivo compared to liposomes and other lipid-based systems, overcoming their limitations and surpassing their shortcomings. This review offers a broad summary of emulsomal research to date and a comprehensive overview of the formulation materials and their effects on the fabrication, physical characteristics, surface modification, lymphatic targeting, and recent applications of EMLs in infectious and cancerous diseases. EMLs can offer stable and safe lipid-based systems with adequate entrapment and sustained release properties, improving bioavailability and evading multidrug resistance. Furthermore, they hold promise for future clinical applications for anti-microbial and anti-cancer drugs. Graphical Abstract