Therapeutic Nanoparticles and Their Targeted Delivery Applications

Abstract

Nanotechnology offers many advantages in various fields of science. In this regard, nanoparticles are the essential building blocks of nanotechnology. Recent advances in nanotechnology have proven that nanoparticles acquire a great potential in medical applications. Formation of stable interactions with ligands, variability in size and shape, high carrier capacity, and convenience of binding of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances make nanoparticles favorable platforms for the target-specific and controlled delivery of micro- and macromolecules in disease therapy. Nanoparticles combined with the therapeutic agents overcome problems associated with conventional therapy; however, some issues like side effects and toxicity are still debated and should be well concerned before their utilization in biological systems. It is therefore important to understand the specific properties of therapeutic nanoparticles and their delivery strategies. Here, we provide an overview on the unique features of nanoparticles in the biological systems. We emphasize on the type of clinically used nanoparticles and their specificity for therapeutic applications, as well as on their current delivery strategies for specific diseases such as cancer, infectious, autoimmune, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, ocular, and pulmonary diseases. Understanding of the characteristics of nanoparticles and their interactions with the biological environment will enable us to establish novel strategies for the treatment, prevention, and diagnosis in many diseases, particularly untreatable ones.

Gold Nanoparticles as Colorimetric Sensors for the Detection of DNA Bases and Related Compounds

“…Guanine solutions were prepared from the hydrochloric salt; either in neutral or in 10.4 mM acetic acid-water solution, the spectrum shows two absorption bands, that suggest the coexistence of two tautomers. In this respect, the free energy in solution of the two tautomers with the hydrogen bound to N (7) or N (9) differs only by 1 kcal/mol and their populations are very similar [27]. Table 1.…”

“…Interactions between DNA nucleobases and noble metallic surfaces are important for the exploitation of the biological reactivity used in biosensor development, nanoparticle-assisted cancer treatment, and DNA microarray optimization [1][2][3]. In recent years, colorimetric assays based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have emerged as a promising new method due to their unique and size-dependent optical, electrical, and catalytic properties [4][5][6][7][8]. AuNPs exhibit a visible surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band, which gives them a singular red color in aqueous solution [9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…DNA bases are the fundamental constituents of nucleic acids containing nitrogen found within nucleotides. The nucleic acids are the most studied biomolecules for capping gold NPs, and have been used with different goals that include the colorimetric detection of duplex and triplex DNA-binding molecules [2,6], DNA methylation as an early sign of tumor cells [6], or in gold nanoparticle-assisted cancer treatment [7,8].…”

Drug Delivery Systems of Natural Products in Oncology

“…There are many in vitro and in vivo studies focusing on drug delivery systems of natural compounds in the field of oncology aimed at improve their solubility, bioavailability and selectivity [ 23 , 121 , 122 , 123 ].…”

“…As known, the first nano-drug FDA-approved was a PEGylated liposomal formulation of doxorubicin, Doxil ® /Caelyx ® (1995) [ 172 ], which successfully improved outcomes with an enhancement of drug concentrations in the tumor, when compared with free drug, with a concomitant reduction in cardiotoxicity [ 122 ].…”