Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of Therapeutic Drugs

Abstract

Nanotechnology-based pharmaceutics is a fast emerging field in the diagnosis and therapy of a number of human diseases, including cancer. Nanoparticles offer a stable means to achieve targeted drug delivery to various cells and tissues. They have been investigated for drug delivery to different tumor tissues, to brain where the blood-brain barrier poses a significant problem in the delivery of effective therapeutic molecules, to ocular tissues and also for eliciting immune response via delivery of vaccines. Particularly, the small size of nanoparticles facilitates their easy access to a wide range of cells and tissues. Further, the size of nanoparticles can be controlled and their surface can be modified with desired ligands and receptors to specifically target cells of interest as well as achieve controlled drug release. Research is being carried out on numerous biological and synthetic nanoparticles. Diverse strategies are being developed to improve their stability, specificity and drug delivery efficiency. Nanoparticles have been also used in conjunction with cellpenetrating peptides for efficient drug delivery. Cellpenetrating peptides serve as efficient nanocarriers owing to their inherent ability to cross the plasma membrane barrier and deliver cargo to intracellular targets. Modification of nanoparticles with cell-penetrating peptides further increases their efficacy for increased permeation into varied cells and tissues. The current review focuses on different classes of nanoparticles and their application in the treatment of several types of diseases. Key PointsNanoparticle-based therapeutic drugs are widely used for the treatment of a number of diseases, including cancer.Ease of modulation of size and tuning of the nanoparticles with various ligands make them effective for formulation into specific drugs with increased therapeutic index and reduced toxicity.Successful pre-clinical and early phase clinical trials have promised the emergence of nanocarrier-based drugs.

Nanophytomedicines for the Prevention of Metabolic Syndrome: A Pharmacological and Biopharmaceutical Review

“…Conventional drug delivery systems are often accompanied with some critical limitations such as high dosage, low efficacy, low bioavailability, lack of target specificity, and dose-dependent side effects (Surendiran et al, 2009;Subramani et al, 2012). In vitro and in vivo investigations showed that nano-drug delivery systems such as nanomicelles, liposomes, and hydrogel-based nanocomposites can provide drug targeting to a specific site (Ponnappan and Chugh, 2015;Kesharwani et al, 2018). In case of diabetes and diabetes-associated dysfunctions, effective delivery of insulin via oral route by these nanoformulations is highly preferred compared to the available parenteral preparations, due to a higher patient compliance (Wilczewska et al, 2012;Fangueiro et al, 2015;Maity et al, 2017).…”

A new biology of cell penetrating peptides

“…Thus, a chimeric combination of a Latarcin 1‐derived spider toxin peptide (KWRRKLKKLR) with a nuclear localisation sequence from Simian virus T antigen yielded a novel CPP LDP‐NLS (KWRRKLKKLRPKKKRKV), capable of protein delivery. [ 22 ] Various linear fragments of crotamine, a cationic antimicrobial toxin polypeptide from the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus , including C1 (KQCHKKGGHCFPKEKIC), are also effective CPP vectors. [ 23 ] Of the many hundreds of CPPs described to date [ 16 ] a majority are now mostly confined to the annals of history; they provide structural clues useful for the development and prediction of more efficient CPP vectors, but many are essentially evolutionary dead‐ends.…”

Hydrophobic Modification of Copper Nanospheres for Incorporation into Poloxamer Micelles, Aggregated Micellar Nanocages and Supramolecular Assemblies

“…These micelles have a narrow size distribution therefore, they offer advantages in the encapsulation of lipophilic or even insoluble drugs. The size of micelles can vary from 20 to 200 nm, ensuring good penetration of blood vessels and long-lasting distribution in the body [36].…”