Cubosomes: The Next Generation of Smart Lipid Nanoparticles?

Abstract

Cubosomes are highly stable nanoparticles formed from the lipid cubic phase and stabilized by a polymer based outer corona. Bicontinuous lipid cubic phases consist of a single lipid bilayer that forms a continuous periodic membrane lattice structure with pores formed by two interwoven water channels. Cubosome composition can be tuned to engineer pore sizes or include bioactive lipids, the polymer outer corona can be used for targeting and they are highly stable under physiological conditions. Compared to liposomes, the structure provides a significantly higher membrane surface area for loading of membrane proteins and small drug molecules. Owing to recent advances, they can be engineered in vitro in both bulk and nanoparticle formats with applications including drug delivery, membrane bioreactors, artificial cells, and biosensors. This review outlines recent advances in cubosome technology enabling their application and provides guidelines for the rational design of new systems for biomedical applications.

pH-Responsive Nano-Self-Assemblies of the Anticancer Drug 2-Hydroxyoleic Acid

“…33,49−55 Despite the attractiveness of cubosomes, hexosomes, and related nonlamellar liquid crystalline nanoparticles in the development of injectable drug nanocarriers, there is still to date no FDAapproved formulation based on these nanostructured emulsions. 56,57 Nevertheless, recent in vivo studies showed that these nanoparticles are promising candidates in the development of nanocarriers for anticancer drug delivery. 58,59 The major goal of this study is to investigate the composition and pH dependence of 2OHOA/GMO nanoself-assemblies and gain further insight into their pH-triggered structural, morphological, and size alterations by using synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), and ζ-potential measurements.…”

Advancements in prophylactic and therapeutic nanovaccines

“…It indicated the immune activation by two lipid-based adjuvants via different mechanisms [95] . In addition, cubosomes are generally made up of lipid bilayers forming continuous periodic cubic lattice structures with interwoven water channels and a stabilizing polymeric outer corona [96] . Phytantriol, pluronic F127 and propylene glycol-based cubosome formulation containing (imiquimod and monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL)) adjuvants and model OVA antigen elicited robust IFN-γ production and CD4 + and CD8 + T cell proliferation as compared to similar adjuvant containing liposomal formulation and alum [97] .…”

SCryPTA:A web-based platform for analyzing Small-Angle Scattering curves of lyotropic liquid crystals

“…On the other hand, cubosomes are lipidic nanoparticles, with cubic inner structure 20,33,44 , they have shown interesting physicochemical properties and are being considered quite interesting as drug delivery systems 20,45,46 . These quite novel and interesting material have a higher hydrophilic surface area, making it a quite interesting material for drug delivery systems 47 .…”