Bone Diseases: Current Approach and Future Perspectives in Drug Delivery Systems for Bone Targeted Therapeutics

Abstract

Bone diseases include a wide group of skeletal-related disorders that cause mobility limitations and mortality. In some cases, e.g., in osteosarcoma (OS) and metastatic bone cancer, current treatments are not fully effective, mainly due to low patient compliance and to adverse side effects. To overcome these drawbacks, nanotechnology is currently under study as a potential strategy allowing specific drug release kinetics and enhancing bone regeneration. Polymers, ceramics, semiconductors, metals, and self-assembled molecular complexes are some of the most used nanoscale materials, although in most cases their surface properties need to be tuned by chemical or physical reactions. Among all, scaffolds, nanoparticles (NPs), cements, and hydrogels exhibit more advantages than drawbacks when compared to other nanosystems and are therefore the object of several studies. The aim of this review is to provide information about the current therapies of different bone diseases focusing the attention on new discoveries in the field of targeted delivery systems. The authors hope that this paper could help to pursue further directions about bone targeted nanosystems and their application for bone diseases and bone regeneration.

The Beneficial Effect of Boswellic Acid on Bone Metabolism and Possible Mechanisms of Action in Experimental Osteoporosis

“…However, highly efficacious agents with outstanding safety and efficacy are necessary. Extensive studies has been carried out in the past few decades to understand osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, and the drug discovery research continued their effort to develop new therapeutic agents that can prevent and/or treat bone diseases [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Further, previous studies suggested that metabolic dysfunction and osteoporosis share common pathways, which include the regulation of calcium homeostasis, receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL), osteoprotegerin, and Wnt-β-catenin signaling pathways [ 7 ].…”

The inhibitory effect of CTAB on human osteosarcoma through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

“…With the rapid development of medical science and technology, the rate of limb salvage in osteosarcoma is greater than 80% in the clinic, and limb salvage has gradually replaced amputation in the majority of cases (18). Currently, the widely accepted strategy for osteosarcoma treatment is surgery combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (19,20). Different chemotherapy regimens include the use of two to seven drugs, of which the four classic drugs that show consistent effects are cisplatin, doxorubicin, and high-dose methotrexate with leucovorin and ifosfamide with or without etoposide (21).…”

Drug Delivery to the Bone Microenvironment Mediated by Exosomes: An Axiom or Enigma

“…Drugs and therapeutic strategies are currently available for common bone disorders occurring due to increased bone resorption like osteoporosis, bone metastasis, osteosarcoma, osteoarthritis, and Paget’s disease. 76 These broadly include bone-targeted anti-resorptive drugs like bisphosphonates (BPs), 77 , 78 antibody treatment, 79 combination anti-resorptive therapy, 80 , 81 antibiotics like tetracyclines, 82 chemotherapeutic agents 83 , 84 and hormonal therapy. 85 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved anti-resorptive drugs BPs, 86 such as alendronate, risedronate, ibandronate and zoledronic acid, are used to treat osteoporosis, 87 , 88 bone metastases 89 , 90 and osteosarcoma 91 , 92 by inhibiting bone demineralization 93 , 94 and tumor growth.…”