Energy Conversion-Based Nanotherapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by synovial hyperplasia and cartilage/bone destruction, which results in a high disability rate on human health and a huge burden on social economy. At present, traditional therapies based on drug therapy still cannot cure RA, in accompany with the potential serious side effects. Based on the development of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine, energy conversion-based nanotherapy has demonstrated distinctive potential and performance in RA treatment. This strategy employs specific nanoparticles with intrinsic physiochemical properties to target lesions with the following activation by diverse external stimuli, such as light, ultrasound, microwave, and radiation. These nanoagents subsequently produce therapeutic effects or release therapeutic factors to promote necrotic apoptosis of RA inflammatory cells, reduce the concentration of related inflammatory factors, relieve the symptoms of RA, which are expected to ultimately improve the life quality of RA patients. This review highlights and discusses the versatile biomedical applications of energy conversion-based nanotherapy in efficient RA treatment, in together with the deep clarification of the facing challenges and further prospects on the final clinical translations of these energy conversion-based nanotherapies against RA.

Emerging advances in fluorescence imaging and phototherapy of arthritis

“…[191] Increasing the temperature to 41-47°C produces a thermotherapeutic effect [192] that inhibits abnormal tissue growth or vascular opacification and leads to lesion ablation through, for example, irreversible protein denaturation, nucleic acid damage, and cytoplasmic lysis evaporation, leading to apoptosis. [193,194] Nanomaterials are commonly used as photothermal agents because of their specific properties, such as metal NPs (gold [Au] NPs, silver [Ag] NPs, etc.) magnetic NPs, polymeric NPs, and so forth.…”

Biomedical applications of polysaccharide nanoparticles for chronic inflammatory disorders: Focus on rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and organ fibrosis

“…showing their therapeutic prospective in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Also, chitosan-HA nanogels encapsulating anionic photosensitizers were also prepared for specifically targeting synovial macrophages, that can attain photodynamic treatment in case of RA [161].…”

Biomaterial-based immunotherapeutic strategies for rheumatoid arthritis

“…To this end, several groups have demonstrated encapsulation of bioactive molecules within liposomes is an effective strategy for enhancing articular targeting and potency. For example, dexamethasone [93,94], glutathione [95], and tofacitinib [96] have been encapsulated within liposomes and shown to be more efficacious in comparison to the unencapsulated drugs in various models of inflammatory arthritis [93,[95][96][97].…”