SMART drug delivery systems: Back to the future vs. clinical reality

Recent advances in nanotechnology and material science have re-ignited interest in drug delivery research. Arguably, however, hardly any of the systems developed and strategies proposed are really relevant for shaping the future (clinical) face of the nanomedicine field. Consequently, as outlined in this commentary, instead of making ever more carrier materials, and making nanomedicine both science-fiction and fiction-science, we should try to come up with rational and realistic concepts to make nanomedicines work, in particular in patient

Азовська операція Революційної Повстанської Армії України (махновців)

В історії України знайдеться не так вже й багато явищ та подій, які б значимістю та силою переросли рамки регіональної та національної історії і ставали повноправними надбаннями історії всесвітньої. Ще менше подібних подій та явищ існувало на рівні південноукраїнського регіону. І було б логічно, якби такі явища посилено досліджувались істориками, а результати досліджень ставали надбанням якомога ширшого загалу, що перетворювало б ці явища на бренд, який швидко вгадувався і запам’ятовувся будь-де. Проте в умовах сучасної України ми цього не спостерігаємо

臨床応用の可能なマウス型モノクローナル抗体の作製 - 早期癌診断へのモノクローナル抗体2H6の応用 -

Here we present a facile synthetic method yielding a linear form of polydopamine via Kumada-coupling, which can be converted into water-soluble melanin, generating high contrast in photoacoustic imaging

Image-guided drug delivery: preclinical applications and clinical translation

Image-guided drug delivery refers to the combination of drug targeting and imaging. Preclinically, image-guided drug delivery can be used for several different purposes, including for monitoring biodistribution, target site accumulation, off-target localization, drug release and drug efficacy. Clinically, it holds significant potential for preselecting patients. In this editorial, we briefly summarize the main principles of image-guided drug delivery, and we describe its potential for facilitating, furthering and personalizing nanomedicine treatments

Liposomal corticosteroids for the treatment of inflammatory disorders and cancer

Glucocorticoids (GC) are known for their potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties. As a consequence, they have been extensively used for the treatment of many different diseases. Prolonged and/or high-dose GC therapy, however, generally comes with severe side effects, resulting not only from their very diverse mechanism(s) of action, but also from their relatively poor biodistribution. Drug delivery systems, and in particular liposomes, have been extensively used to enhance the biodistribution and the target site accumulation of GC, and to thereby improve the balance between their efficacy and their toxicity. Many different types of liposomes have been employed, and both local and systemic treatments have been evaluated. We here summarize the progress made in the use of liposomal GC formulations for the treatment of asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer, and we show that the targeted delivery of GC to pathological sites holds significant clinical potentia

Core-crosslinked polymeric micelles: principles, preparation, biomedical applications and clinical translation

Polymeric micelles (PM) are extensively used to improve the delivery of hydrophobic drugs. Many different PM have been designed and evaluated over the years, and some of them have steadily progressed through clinical trials. Increasing evidence suggests, however, that for prolonged circulation times and for efficient EPR-mediated drug targeting to tumors and to sites of inflammation, PM need to be stabilized, to prevent premature disintegration. Core-crosslinking is among the most popular methods to improve the in vivo stability of PM, and a number of core-crosslinked polymeric micelles (CCPM) have demonstrated promising efficacy in animal models. The latter is particularly true for CCPM in which (pro-) drugs are covalently entrapped. This ensures proper drug retention in the micelles during systemic circulation, efficient drug delivery to pathological sites via EPR, and tailorable drug release kinetics at the target site. We here summarize recent advances in the CCPM field, addressing the chemistry involved in preparing them, their in vitro and in vivo performance, potential biomedical applications, and guidelines for efficient clinical translation

Ultrasound-mediated drug delivery to the brain: principles, progress and prospects

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) limits drug delivery to the central nervous system. When combined with microbubbles, ultrasound can transiently permeate blood vessels in the brain. This approach, which can be referred to as sonoporation or sonopermeabilization, holds significant promise for shuttling large therapeutic molecules, such as antibodies, growth factors and nanomedicine formulations, across the BBB. We here describe the basic principles of BBB permeation using ultrasound and microbubbles, and we summarize several (pre-) clinical studies showing the potential of BBB opening for improving the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative disorder