Liposomes as drug carriers for polyene antibiotics

Abstract

Despite the advent of powerful antibiotics, infections are still a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The widespread use of immunosuppressive therapy has made fungal infections a familiar aspect of many branches of medicine. The development of useful antifungal agents has been hampered by the fact that drugs lethal to the fungal cells are frequently toxic to the eukaryotic host cells. In addition to the obvious need for new drugs, modifications in the formulation of established or newer drugs and use of combination therapy have been proposed as alternative approaches to improve the therapy of infectious diseases. One recent promising development in the modification of drug formulation has been the use of liposomes. We have used liposomes as carriers for polyene antibiotics in the treatment of systemic candidiasis. The use of liposome-encapsulated polyenes in other areas still remains to be explored. This review will focus on the problems related to antifungal therapy with polyenes and the use of liposomes as drug carriers for polyene macrolide antibiotics alone or in combination with other drugs or biological molecules. The possible use of liposome-encapsulated polyenes in the treatment of other diseases has also been discussed, as has the effect of liposome encapsulation on the toxicity and antifungal activity of certain polyenes.