Abstract
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease and considered to be one of the major public health problems worldwide. In the past decade numerous drug delivery systems have been developed to improve the treatment outcome of RA. A stable endogenous protein, albumin has been employed as a non-immunogenic delivery carrier and extensively researched in various disease therapies. To provide the prospective for future research, this review summarizes the application of albumin as drug or imaging agent carriers for RA and proposes potential future directions. There are three major types of albumin-based carrier systems for RA, including albumin drug conjugates, albumin particles and genetic infusion albumin. Their imaging or therapeutic effects have been proved in clinic or preclinical studies.
Highlights
Albumin is the most abundant protein in plasma, accounting for more than half of human plasma protein [1]
The enhanced vascular fenestration allows albumin-based delivery systems to extravasate at the inflammation site
The albumin systems developed for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) might be applicable to other inflammatory diseases because of this passive-targeting mechanism
Summary
Albumin is the most abundant protein in plasma, accounting for more than half of human plasma protein [1]. There are around seven albuminbased drugs or imaging agents on market (Table 1) and more than ten products under clinical trials [1,2] They have various applications including oncology, diabetes, hepatitis C and rheumatoid arthritis. There are several advantages of using albumin as drug carrier: 1) as an endogenous protein, Human Serum Albumin (HSA) is native to the body It is biodegradable in nature, nontoxic and non-immunogenic; 2) Albumin is a robust protein. Albumin could remain stable under typical processing conditions; 3) as the most abundant protein in plasma, albumin is readily available It has been used in clinical setting for more than 30 years; 4) the half life of albumin is 19 days in blood circulation. Coupling other anti-inflammatory drugs with albumin for RA treatment is a research area worth exploring
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