Progress of Liposomal Nanohybrid Cerasomes as Novel Drug Nanocarriers

Abstract

Despite many benefits, liposomes have still not realized their full potential as vehicles for drug delivery due to the morphological instability. Recently, liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes have been developed as novel drug nanocarriers based on organoalkoxysilane through a sol-gel reaction in combination with self-assembly process. The presence of polyorganosiloxane network on the surface imparts cerasomes higher morphological stability than conventional liposomes and the incorporation of liposomal bilayer structure into cerasomes boosts the biocompatibility in comparision with silica nanoparticles with similar size. Moreover, cerasomes are able to encapsulate various drug molecules and exhibit controlled drug release profile. In addition, cerasomes are easy to be conjugated with biomolecules through silane-coupler chemistry due to the silanols on the surface. Therefore, cerasomes are expected to be ideal drug delivery systems owning to the unique advantages. The present paper will briefly introduce the preparation and properties of cerasomes, followed by reviewing the progress of cerasomes for drug delivery.

Recent developments in the use of organic–inorganic nanohybrids for drug delivery

“…Moreover, the hybrid cerasome presents significantly reduced overall rigidity and density due to its liposomal bilayer rendering it more biocompatible and biodegradable than neat silica nanoparticles (Yue & Dai, ). Another unique advantage of cerasomes is their ability to functionalize the silanols located on the exterior surface to allow easy bioconjugation of biomolecules (Hameed, Bhattarai, & Dai, ; S. Li et al, ; Yue, Jing, & Dai, ). Furthermore, thermosensitive cerasomes (Liang et al, ) and redox responsive cerasomes (G. Zhou et al, ) for effective cancer treatments are reported.…”