Carrier‐Based Systems as Strategies for Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Peptides and Proteins: A Mini‐Review

Abstract

Peptides and proteins play an essential role in biological systems and the human body.Deficiency or dysfunction of peptides and proteins such as insulin can lead to various illnesses.The therapeutic use of peptides and proteins in some illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity, and cancer, among others, is highly considered. Peptides and proteins have large molecular structures and are generally hydrophilic, and maintaining their spatial composition or tertiary configurations are necessary for their pharmacological activities.Maintaining the stability of the protein structure and composition is therefore very important and necessary to maintain functionality. There are different routes for peptides and proteins administration such as injection (subcutaneous, intravenous, and intramuscular), oral, nasal, pulmonary, rectal, and ocular routes. The oral administration route is better accepted by the patient due to safety and ease of use. However, oral administration often is unsuitable because of the physicochemical properties and macromolecular structure of proteins and the presence of gastrointestinal (GI) enzymes under an acidic environment within the stomach. Proteins and peptides undergo enzymatic degradation, tertiary structural alteration, and low absorption. This necessitates the need to use alternative oral drug delivery systems for peptides and proteins that maintain their overall structure and enhances their absorption and bioavailability. In this article, we review carrier-based oral drug delivery systems that were suitable for peptides and proteins.

Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Antibodies with a Transmucosal Polymeric Carrier

“…To protect drugs from the strongly acidic gastric fluid, pH-sensitive enteric polymer coating on capsules that could dissolve only when they reach the intestines with neutral pH values is a common strategy in oral pharmaceutical formulations. , However, the intestinal mucosal layer together with epithelial cells tightly bound to each other via tight junctions would form an intestinal barrier that prevents the absorption of macromolecules such as proteins into blood circulation. − Thus, tremendous efforts have been devoted to develop effective strategies to enable efficient oral delivery of macromolecules in recent years. − Although addition of permeability enhancers such as medium-chain fatty acids and bile salts, which usually are amphiphilic molecules that could temporarily open the biofilm channels or tight junctions, could improve the absorption of drugs, such chemical enhancers are only applicable for peptide drugs with relatively low molecular weight (e.g., insulin and octreotide, 4–6 kDa), and the overall oral bioavailabilities in those systems remained rather low . Recently, mechanical systems such as the self-orienting applicators were utilized in the delivery of peptides and antibodies .…”

Optimization of Calcium Alginate Hydrogel Bioencapsulation of Acinetobacter junii B6, a Lipopeptide Biosurfactant Producer

“…Surfactants' structure consists of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that play an important role in drug delivery and many industries, including oil and petroleum, soap and detergent, energy generation, food and beverage, and environmental pollution remediation (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Biosurfactants are new-age surfactants derived from plants, animals, and microbes (6,7).…”