Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles Against Viral Infections.

Homa Boroumand,Majid Nejati,Fereshteh Badie,Michael R Hamblin,Bita Badehnoosh,Zeynab Sadat Seyedi,Hossein Bannazadeh Baghi,Mohammad Abbasi-Kolli,Hamed Mirzaei,Javid Sadri Nahand,Maryam Ghandali,Samaneh Mazaheri

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2021.643953

Abstract

Viral infections, in addition to damaging host cells, can compromise the host immune system, leading to frequent relapse or long-term persistence. Viruses have the capacity to destroy the host cell while liberating their own RNA or DNA in order to replicate within additional host cells. The viral life cycle makes it challenging to develop anti-viral drugs. Nanotechnology-based approaches have been suggested to deal effectively with viral diseases, and overcome some limitations of anti-viral drugs. Nanotechnology has enabled scientists to overcome the challenges of solubility and toxicity of anti-viral drugs, and can enhance their selectivity towards viruses and virally infected cells, while preserving healthy host cells. Chitosan is a naturally occurring polymer that has been used to construct nanoparticles (NPs), which are biocompatible, biodegradable, less toxic, easy to prepare, and can function as effective drug delivery systems (DDSs). Furthermore, chitosan is Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the US Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA). Chitosan NPs have been used in drug delivery by the oral, ocular, pulmonary, nasal, mucosal, buccal, or vaginal routes. They have also been studied for gene delivery, vaccine delivery, and advanced cancer therapy. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that chitosan NPs could be used as new therapeutic tools against viral infections. In this review we summarize reports concerning the therapeutic potential of chitosan NPs against various viral infections.

Highlights

Infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites are responsible for nearly 15 million deaths globally, of which human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, tuberculosis, as well as acute respiratory infection including the newly emerged COVID-19 have been considered to be the key causes of death (Panácek et al, 2009; Li et al, 2011; Qasim et al, 2014)
Nanomedicines are being increasingly used for drug delivery, with many advantages, including tissue targeting, controlled release, improved permeability and solubility of drugs, greater effectiveness, improved safety, and lower toxicity
Occurring materials are often preferred for the construction of these nanomedicines, compared to synthetic polymers, inorganic materials, or carbon-based nanomaterials

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites are responsible for nearly 15 million deaths globally, of which human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, tuberculosis, as well as acute respiratory infection including the newly emerged COVID-19 have been considered to be the key causes of death (Panácek et al, 2009; Li et al, 2011; Qasim et al, 2014). CH, unlike chitin, can be dissolved in a dilute acidic solution to form a soluble cationic polymer, which has different properties to other polysaccharides (Kmiec et al, 2017). The size and surface charge of the CH NPs prepared via the above procedures, depend on the degree of deacetylation and the molecular weight (Mohammed et al, 2017). Results indicated that NPs dispersed in a saline solution showed higher stability and a smaller particle size in the presence of sodium chloride, which may be caused by the monovalent sodium salt screening out the electrostatic repulsion between the positively charged amine groups on the CH backbone. The CH aqueous solution is poured into an organic solvent containing a surfactant with constant agitation to allow the formation of reverse micelles (Zhao et al, 2011)

Microemulsion Method

Findings

CONCLUSIONS