Thermosensitive Liposomal Drug Delivery Systems: A Review

Abstract

When combined with local hyperthermia or high intensity focused ultrasound, thermosensitive liposomes are a promising technique for externally directing medications to solid tumours. To selectively focus drug delivery to diseased or damaged tissue while reducing drug distribution to vital normal tissues is the main goal of liposomal drug delivery. An overview of temperature-sensitive liposomes is provided in this review. The ability to heat tumours with external energy sources in a controlled and predictable manner makes temperature-sensitive liposomes an especially alluring alternative. The lipids used to make conventional thermosensitive liposomes experience a gel-to-liquid phase shift many degrees above physiological temperature. Lysolipids and artificial temperature-sensitive polymers have recently been used to show how liposomes can be made to be sensitive to temperature. Thermosensitive liposomes (TSL) and localized hyperthermia are potent delivery vehicles for tumor-specific drugs. In addition to chemotherapy, hyperthermia is given to cancer patients to help certain chemotherapeutic medications work more effectively. Using temperature-sensitive liposomes in conjunction with localized hyperthermia, which specifically releases the medicine contained in the heated tumor tissue, can significantly increase the temperature-dependent effect.