Nanoparticles Formulations of Artemisinin and Derivatives as Potential Therapeutics for the Treatment of Cancer, Leishmaniasis and Malaria

Abstract

Cancer, malaria, and leishmaniasis remain the deadly diseases around the world although several strategies of treatment have been developed. However, most of the drugs used to treat the aforementioned diseases suffer from several pharmacological limitations such as poor pharmacokinetics, toxicity, drug resistance, poor bioavailability and water solubility. Artemisinin and its derivatives are antimalarial drugs. However, they also exhibit anticancer and antileishmanial activity. They have been evaluated as potential anticancer and antileishmanial drugs but their use is also limited by their poor water solubility and poor bioavailability. To overcome the aforementioned limitations associated with artemisinin and its derivatives used for the treatment of these diseases, they have been incorporated into nanoparticles. Several researchers incorporated this class of drugs into nanoparticles resulting in enhanced therapeutic outcomes. Their potential efficacy for the treatment of parasitic infections such as malaria and leishmaniasis and chronic diseases such as cancer has been reported. This review article will be focused on the nanoparticles formulations of artemisinin and derivatives for the treatment of cancer, malaria, and leishmaniasis and the biological outcomes (in vitro and in vivo).

Meeting the Needs of a Potent Carrier for Malaria Treatment: Encapsulation of Artemisone in Poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) Micro‐ and Nanoparticles

“…Altogether, we developed easy to produce stable nanoparticle dispersions and dried microparticle powder, with a spherical shape, high encapsulation efficiencies, high drug loadings and methods that enable burst or slow release, as needed. The formulations might be applied in diseases where treatment by artemisinins is efficient, for example cancer, [68][69][70] malaria, and schistosomiasis. [9,71] Formulations of other lipophilic drugs using solvent displacement, and water-soluble as well as waterinsoluble drugs using spray drying method might be produced using identical methods.…”

Promising Therapeutic Candidate for Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury: What Are the Possible Mechanisms and Roles of Phytochemicals?

“…Recent pieces of research have reported that it was not only anti-malaria but also an anti-tumor agent. Artemisinin can promote cell death, block cell cycle, prevent angiogenesis, and tumor metastasis ( 214 ). Its protective effect against I/R injury is mainly due to the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway, but preconditioning with artemisinin preconditioning could significantly suppress NLRP3 inflammasome activation.…”

Novel Strategies for Solubility and Bioavailability Enhancement of Bufadienolides

“…Nanocarriers are usually developed from polymers, lipids/proteins, metals and carbon-based materials. Compared with traditional drug carriers, nanodrug carriers can solve the pharmacological limitations of poor drug resistance, poor bioavailability and poor water solubility [ 95 , 96 ]. Generally, nanocarriers provide a large surface area and can overcome anatomical obstacles [ 97 ].…”