Nanotechnologies in Protein Delivery

Abstract

The growth rate for biotech drugs, namely proteins, peptides, and oligonucleotides, is dictated by the parallel progresses in biotechnology and nanotechnology. Actually, biotechnology techniques have expanded enormously the arsenal of therapeutically useful peptides and proteins making these products of primary interest for future pharmaceutical market. Nevertheless, the exploitation of protein and peptide drugs is strictly related to the development of innovative delivery systems which should provide for controlled, prolonged, or targeted delivery, improved stability during storage and delivery, reduced adverse effects, increased bioavailability, improved patient compliance and allow for administration through the desired route and cope with cost-containment therapeutic protocols. Colloidal formulations ideally possess the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical requisites for protein delivery. Pharmaceutical nanotechnology is a tool of techniques applied to design, develop and produce these systems. It involves the investigation of innovative materials and production procedures for preparation of a variety of nanosized dosage forms, which range from solid nanoparticles to soluble bioconjugates. The research and development of innovative tailor made protein delivery systems, which must be designed according to the drug candidate pharmacological and physicochemical properties, is one of the primary aim of modern pharmaceutical technology. Therefore, as an unmet need exists for technologies that combine innovative drug delivery solutions, a close un-prejudicial interaction between academic and industrial researchers as well as business thought leaders is required.

Nanomedicine–Nanoscale Drugs and Delivery Systems

“…Therefore, nanotechnology offers approaches that could help in the controlled delivery of drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB Nanomedicine-Nanoscale Drugs and Delivery Systems Singh drugs and drug-delivery systems using lipid-or polymerbased nanoparticles have opened new vistas in medical sciences. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Broadly speaking, nanomedicine plays an important role from detection to diagnosis to treatment of different types of diseases. Nanomedicine includes contrast agents for medical imaging, biomarkers, biosensors, biomolecular targeting by nanodevices, nanomachines, nanorobots, gene therapy, and drug-delivery systems.…”

Preparation and Characterization of Carvacrol Loaded Polyhydroxybutyrate Nanoparticles by Nanoprecipitation and Dialysis Methods

“…Biopolymeric nanoparticles are good candidate to improve the therapeutic value of various drugs and bioactive molecules by increasing bioavailability, solubility, and retention time (Bala and others ; Feng ). The hydrophilic or hydrophobic bioactive compounds entrap inside or attach on the surface of nanoparticles and will be released at an appropriate rate and dose at specific sites (Barichello and others ; Salmaso and others ; Bharali and others ). A wide range of polymeric biomaterials is used as a matrix for preparation of these nanosystems (Mora‐Huertas and others).…”

Supramolecular Bioconjugates for Protein and Small Drug Delivery

“…[9] However, although the extraordinary therapeutic potential of these macromolecules makes them attractive drugs, their exploitation in medicine is often limited by their poor physicochemical, immunological, and biopharmaceutical properties. [10,11] Due to their fragile structures, proteins easily undergo physical, chemical or enzymatic inactivation during manipulation, formulation, storage, and delivery. Their hydrophilic character and large size significantly limit their permeation through biological membranes.…”

“…Finally, proteins are intrinsically immunogenic and antigenic molecules that can be rapidly cleared from the body as well as inactivated or converted into toxic products by the immunosystem. [11,12] So far, several formulations have been explored to ameliorate the biopharmaceutical profile of proteins and provide for suitable delivery, such as micro and nanoparticle encapsulation and polymer conjugation. [11,13] Polymer attachment, in particular, has been demonstrated to succeed in producing effective biopharmaceutics with enhanced therapeutic performance as compared to the parent molecules.…”

“…Despite polyvinylpyrrolidone, acryloylmorpholine, dextrans, acrylates, and a few other natural, synthetic, and semisyntehtic polymers that have been investigated so far to obtain protein-polymer bioconjugates, namely, PEG has been demonstrated to possess the pharmaceutical requisites for parenteral administration. [11] By virtue of its hydrophilicity, low immunogenicity, and antigenicity, high local and systemic biocompatibility, and stability, PEG has been approved by FDA, EMEA, and the main worldwide regulatory agencies for injectable formulations.…”