Abstract
Nanomedicine is currently showing great promise for new methods of diagnosing and treating many diseases, particularly in kidney disease and transplantation. The unique properties of nanoparticles arise from the diversity of size effects, used to design targeted nanoparticles for specific cells or tissues, taking renal clearance and tubular secretion mechanisms into account. The design of surface particles on nanoparticles offers a wide range of possibilities, among which antibodies play an important role. Nanoparticles find applications in encapsulated drug delivery systems containing immunosuppressants and other drugs, in imaging, gene therapies and many other branches of medicine. They have the potential to revolutionize kidney transplantation by reducing and preventing ischemia–reperfusion injury, more efficiently delivering drugs to the graft site while avoiding systemic effects, accurately localizing and visualising the diseased site and enabling continuous monitoring of graft function. So far, there are known nanoparticles with no toxic effects on human tissue, although further studies are still needed to confirm their safety.
Highlights
Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary concept that connects physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, biomedical and materials science, thanks to which its application is very wide [1,2]
NPs appear to be of particular importance in the kidney because of their potential to deliver drugs directly to the site of diseased tissue, the need for long-term drug supplementation and the low side effects compared to standard therapies
The NP size influences its penetration into the kidney via glomerular filtration or tubular secretion mechanisms, which may represent a breakthrough in the targeted treatment and diagnosis of renal diseases [9]
Summary
Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary concept that connects physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, biomedical and materials science, thanks to which its application is very wide [1,2]. Interest in nanotechnology grew when it was proved that the scale of the materials’ size and shape could determine their physiochemical properties; for instance, a high surface area to the volume ratio, increased reactivity or stability in a chemical process or enhanced mechanical strength of a material This unique characteristic, which is not found in macromolecules, allows for its completely novel applications [4,5,6]. To target specific cells or organs, ligands such as antibodies, proteins and nucleic acids can be placed on the surface of NPs. The mentioned properties are promising for imaging, creating biomarkers for detecting of various diseases and cells, gene therapies, drug delivery and tissue regeneration [7]. We aim to identify future directions of nanomedicine and the limitations that researchers may face
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