Nanosize Carriers for Drug and Vaccine Delivery: Advances and Challenges

Abstract

Nanomedicine has emerged as a lucrative option, attracting the attention of scientific and industrial stalwarts for its enormous potential and new business opportunities in the health sector. It encompasses physical, chemical, and biological interventions used for the transformation of bulk materials into nanomaterials (NMs) with particles size ~ 1-100 nm for highly specific medical applications. Therefore, its effects in diagnosis, efficacy, treatment and prevention of diseases may easily be foreseen. The credit goes to nanotechnology, which has emerged with the ability to manipulate the NMs concerning size, shape, composition as well as surface characteristics. Due to the advantages of their tiny size as well as novel properties, NMs are useful for loading more drugs with controlled release and specific targeting. Although full bloom of nanomedicine realization might take years, recent innovations in formulations of nanotechnology-based smart drug/vaccine delivery systems are beginning to change the landscape of future medicines. They are being designed to overcome biological barriers in the living systems by improving the delivery and efficacy of traditional therapeutics and reducing the toxicity by specificity to target cells/tissues. This review focuses on basic understanding and progress in the field of nanomedicine (especially nanocarriers-based drug and vaccine delivery), including nanoformulation of Amphotericin B with functionalized carbon nanotubes for the therapy of visceral leishmaniasis.