26 - Brain specific delivery of phytoconstituents through nanodrug wagons approach

Abstract

Nanotechnology has accelerated an exponentially growing interest in novel drug delivery and healthcare systems. Nanotechnology is an efficient approach that can conquer a multitude of challenges encountered with conventional therapeutics, predominantly low aqueous solubility, systemic toxicity, high dose, short half-life, poor therapeutic index, compromised targeting and payloads, and nonspecific distribution. Over recent decades, remarkable progression has been made in the development and employment of surface-engineered nanoparticles for cancer therapy that can deliver payloads more specifically into tumor vicinities. Furthermore, nanodelivery can enhance therapeutic efficacy of xenobiotics that overall increases their therapeutic utilization for treatment of various diseases. The xenobiotics-loaded nanoparticles can be modulated and engineered accordingly with desired sizes, shapes, and surface attributes to improve their targeting efficiency, solubility, and circulation half-life, and minimize toxicity, biodistribution and immunogenicity. Nanoparticles and their payloads have also been formulated for tumor-specific targeting by leveraging pathophysiological factors such as spatial pH variations, enhanced permeability and retention effect, and temperature. In addition, targeting ligands (antibodies, aptamers, peptides, nucleic acids, etc.) can be conjugated over the nanoparticle surface to achieve tumor-specific targeting thru selective binding to the receptors overexpressed on cancer cell surfaces. The surface modification strategy PEGylation provides shielding for the surface of nanoparticle, thus preventing it from phagocytosis, opsonization, and aggregation, making it stable, biocompatible, stealthy, and long circulating. In addition, numerous drugs and diagnostic agents have been delivered by a single carrier for combination therapy to address multidrug resistance and real-time readout on the treatment efficacy.