Abstract
The development of smart nanocarriers for the delivery of therapeutic drugs has experienced considerable expansion in recent decades, with the development of new medicines devoted to cancer treatment. In this respect a wide range of strategies can be developed by employing liposome nanocarriers with desired physico-chemical properties that, by exploiting a combination of a number of suitable soft interactions, can facilitate the transit through the biological barriers from the point of administration up to the site of drug action. As a result, the materials engineer has generated through the bottom up approach a variety of supramolecular nanocarriers for the encapsulation and controlled delivery of therapeutics which have revealed beneficial developments for stabilizing drug compounds, overcoming impediments to cellular and tissue uptake, and improving biodistribution of therapeutic compounds to target sites. Herein we present recent advances in liposome drug delivery by analyzing the main structural features of liposome nanocarriers which strongly influence their interaction in solution. More specifically, we will focus on the analysis of the relevant soft interactions involved in drug delivery processes which are responsible of main behaviour of soft nanocarriers in complex physiological fluids. Investigation of the interaction between liposomes at the molecular level can be considered an important platform for the modeling of the molecular recognition processes occurring between cells. Some relevant strategies to overcome the biological barriers during the drug delivery of the nanocarriers are presented which outline the main structure-properties relationships as well as their advantages (and drawbacks) in therapeutic and biomedical applications.
Highlights
Liposomes composed of surfactants, natural or syntheticlipids, and block copolymer vesicles represent a versatile platform for the development of improved drug delivery therapies in a wide range of biomedical applications [1]
We describe some strategies developed to overcome the limitations of the biological barriers, and how those approaches have been crucial for the development of advanced smart drug delivery approaches
When a hydrophobic compound is inserted in water the disruption of the H-bonding water network favourites a rearrangement of the water molecules around the non-polar molecules, with the creation of larger cavities to accommodate an assembly of non-polar molecules
Summary
Natural or synthetic (phospho)lipids, and block copolymer vesicles represent a versatile platform for the development of improved drug delivery therapies in a wide range of biomedical applications [1]. The use of liposomes based nanocarriers in drug delivery technologies offers many benefits connected with their capacity for a versatile self-assembly, governed by a number of soft interactions that regulate colloidal stability of therapeutic drugs in bio-environments, preventing unwanted tissue and cellular uptake [4,5,6,7,8]. By controllable properties (such as particle dimension, morphology, charge, lipid composition, and functionalization of the surface with polymers and ligands) that are able to govern their colloidal stability both in vitro and in vivo. We describe some strategies developed to overcome the limitations of the biological barriers, and how those approaches have been crucial for the development of advanced smart drug delivery approaches
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