Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems最新文献

Cancer nanotechnology is a new field of interdisciplinary research cutting across biology, chemistry, engineering, and medicine, aiming to lead to major advances in cancer treatment. Over the past several years, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have attracted the interest of researchers due to their ability to overcome the limitations of classic chemotherapeutics. We reviewed the most recent data on the therapeutic use of SLNs in oncology, presenting their main advantages and disadvantages, along with various production methods and different routes of administration. In accordance with these aspects, the long-term physical stability, the controlled release of the loaded drugs, and the efficient targeted delivery of drugs as methods of surpassing the pharmaceutical limitations of anticancer drugs, natural products and gene therapy have been discussed. In addition, we have also emphasized briefly the crosstalk between SLNs and the new trend in oncology, immunotherapy, as future possible antineoplastic treatment, especially in melanoma. This review highlights the potential of SLNs in providing very positive perspectives for future cancer treatment by improving the efficiency of present chemotherapy and reducing its side effects. SLNs allow targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and could improve the efficiency of current chemotherapy in neoplasia.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and has a 5-year life expectancy of ~8%. Currently, only a few drugs have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for pancreatic cancer treatment. Despite available drug therapy and ongoing clinical investigations, the high prevalence and mortality associated with pancreatic cancer mean that there is an unmet chemopreventive and therapeutic need. From ongoing studies with various novel formulations, it is evident that the development of smart drug delivery systems will improve delivery of drug cargo to the pancreatic target site to ensure and enhance the therapeutic/chemoprevention efficacy of existing drugs and newly designed drugs in the future. With this in view, nanotechnology is emerging as a promising avenue to enhance drug delivery to the pancreas via both passive and active targeting mechanisms. Research in this field has grown extensively over the past decade, as is evident from available scientific literature. This review summarizes the recent advances that have brought nanotechnology-based formulations to the forefront of pancreatic cancer treatment.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating condition that results in impairment of joints and ligaments and thus constrained mobility and decreased array of movement. It is a broad expression that encompasses additional 100 very diverse disorders mainly affecting joints. In the field of drug discovery, there is no well-known treatment for RA that can eradicate the disease permanently and alleviate the pain. The common non-targeted treatment approaches leads to serious side effects and systemic complications for RA patients. Therefore, targeted drug delivery systems, strategies, and diverse therapeutic approach for treatment of RA have gained increasing attention in the past few years. However, with the current understandings, researchers aim at accomplishing complete and long-lasting remission by the development of smart formulations/smart drug-delivery systems. Treatment for RA patients can be more efficient and effective utilizing these smart approaches. The present review focuses on the existing novel drug-delivery systems, strategies, and current trends in the treatment of RA.

In situ forming systems can serve as promising alternative to existing long acting injectables like disperse systems and microspheres, owing to their biocompatibility, stability, ease of administration and scale up. Microspheres based on long-acting parenteral systems pose challenges in scaling up and process changes with the drug and polymer selected. In situ gelling systems are having low viscosity which is very conducive during various manufacturing unit operations and passing the formulation through hypodermic needle with lower applied pressure. Different mechanisms such as physical or physiological stimuli and cross linking reactions are involved in the gelling of in situ forming systems at the site of injection. Drug release from in situ forming systems can be altered according to the need by using different polymers, lipids and fatty acids. In situ forming systems can be evaluated by sol-gel transition time, temperature and pH, rheology, gel strength, texture analysis, syringeability and injectability. The present paper is an overview of the various in situ gelling polymers and their application in the preparation of depot formulations. Numerous products based on in situ forming systems such as Eligard®, Atridox® are available in market.

Mixed micelles self-assembled from two or more dissimilar block copolymers provide a direct and convenient approach to improved drug delivery. The present review is focused on mixed micelles (prepared from block copolymers only) for various drug delivery applications along with their merits over single-copolymer micelles. Presented are the physicochemical properties of mixed and single-copolymer micelles, various stimuli-responsive mixed micelles for the treatment of cancer, interesting combinations of multifunctional mixed micelles along with their in vitro and in vivo performance, and the potential of mixed micelles as a gene delivery system. Finally, the performance of mixed micelles in preclinical and clinical testing is explained. In addition, the interaction of mixed micelles with cancer cells and the biosafety of mixed micelles are summarized. The in vitro and in vivo performance presented here clearly reveals that the mixed-micelle approach has a wider scope than that of the single-copolymer micelle approach and directs researchers to focus on this approach to delivery of drugs/gene/biologics for various applications.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most fatal solid tumors, resulting in more than 250,000 deaths per year globally. It is the eighth leading cause of death from cancer in men and women throughout the world and is now third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. In addition, the worldwide occurrence of PC ranges from 1 to 10 cases per 100,000 people, indicating a higher incidence in developed countries. Most patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease are not candidates for curative resection due to enormously poor prognosis. Substantial efforts have been taken during the past decade to distinguish better treatments in the absence of efficient screening methods. Regardless of wide-ranging efforts, various systems and therapies have shown insufficient efficacy for PC patients. Therefore, the development of novel drug delivery systems, strategies, and diverse therapeutic approaches to improve the range of active molecules for the treatment of PC is critical. Currently, cancer research focuses on improving the treatment of PC via diverse novel drug delivery systems of chemotherapeutic agents. These novel drug delivery systems consist of nanoparticles and liposomes. Strategies or therapeutic approaches intended for PC include radiation therapy, ablation therapy, and gene therapy. These systems and approaches can carry the drug molecules to targeted cancer cells to enhance the effectiveness of tumor penetration. The present review encloses existing novel drug carrier systems and approaches for PC management.