Bio-Inspired Metal-Organic Frameworks in the Pharmaceutical World: A Brief Review

Abstract

One of the great challenges in the pharmaceutical industry is the search for more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and deliver existing drugs. Bio-inspired metalorganic frameworks (BioMOFs) are groundbreaking materials that have recently been explored for drug storage, delivery and controlled release as well as for applications in imaging and sensing for therapeutic and diagnostic. This review presents a brief overview on these materials, and by alluding to a few reported examples, it intends to clearly show the extremely important role that BioMOFs have been playing in the pharmaceutical field.

Innovative Metal-Organic Frameworks for Targeted Oral Cancer Therapy: A Review

“…In particular, this approach seems particularly useful in using ligands with therapeutic activity derived from inorganic polytopic compounds, such as Zn-MOFs prepared from phenylalanine and tyrosine derivatives [ 88 , 89 ]. Several parameters must be considered when designing BioMOFs, including the application, the risk versus benefit balance, the biodistribution, the degradation kinetics, the accumulation in tissues, organs, and the excretion [ 90 , 91 ]. As a result of MOF synthesis, drugs can be delivered using either exogenous (do not interfere with the body’s cycles) or endogenous (constituting a part of the body’s composition) linkers, although experiments with the former seem to be more prevalent [ 44 , 92 ].…”

“…Additionally, it is crucial to note that by directly using a therapeutic molecule as a linker, there is no need for large pores to be created. The release of the drug can be achieved through the degradation of the solid in a way that does not result in any side effects resulting from the release of a non-active ligand [ 89 , 90 ]. The use of bioMOFs in biological applications has recently been proposed in the last few years, mainly for delivering active ingredients (AIs) in controlled environments [ 80 , 93 ].…”

Therapeutic Potential of a Water-Soluble Silver-Diclofenac Coordination Polymer on 3D Pancreatic Cancer Spheroids

“…Intensive research on the design of coordination polymers (CPs) with bioactivity has opened up a platform for advanced therapeutic materials. − In particular, new drug carriers and delivery systems based on bioinspired CPs are a subject of high interest as potential anticancer agents. − Immobilization of biorelevant metal ions and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into metal–organic networks paves the way toward more biocompatible systems with promising anticancer activity and possible synergic effect of different building blocks.…”

Mg- and Mn-MOFs Boost the Antibiotic Activity of Nalidixic Acid

“…Mechanochemistry is a solvent-free synthetic technique increasingly used for the synthesis of organic solids of pharmaceutical interest, luminescent and photo- or termoactive materials, coordination polymers, and MOFs and in studies of biomolecular recognition, asymmetric catalysis, interlocked systems, and racemic resolution. − Several variations of the technique may be employed: in neat grinding, no liquid is added; liquid-assisted grinding uses catalytic amounts of solvent; in ion- and liquid-assisted grinding, catalytic amounts of solvent and an ionic salt are added; polymer-assisted grinding was recently reported. ,,,− Ball milling is one of the techniques in the portfolio of pharmaceutical particle technologies used to improve the poor solubility of drugs by reducing the particle size …”