Functionalized Nanostructured Bioactive Carriers: Nanoliposomes, Quantum Dots, Tocosome, and Theranostic Approach.

BACKGROUND: Lipid nanocarriers have great potential for the encapsulation and delivery of numerous bioactive compounds. They have demonstrated significant benefits over traditional disease management and conventional therapy. The benefits associated with the particular properties of lipid nanocarriers include site-specific drug deposition, improved pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, enhanced internalization and intracellular transport, biodegradability, and decreased biodistribution. These properties result in the alleviation of the harmful consequences of conventional treatment protocols. MATERIALS & METHODS: The administration of various bioactive molecules has been extensively investigated using nanostructured lipid carriers. In this article, theranostic applications of novel formulations of lipid nanocarriers combined or complexed with quantum dots, certain polymers, such as chitosan, and metallic nanoparticles (particularly gold) are reviewed. These formulations have demonstrated better controlled release features, improved drug loading capability, as well as a lower burst release rate. As a recent innovation in drug delivery, tocosomes and their unique advantages are also explained in the final section of this review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Theranostic medicine requires nanocarriers with improved target-specific accumulation and bio-distribution. To this end, lipid-based nanocarrier systems and tocosomes combined with unique properties of quantum dots, biocompatible polymers, and metallic nanoparticles seem to be ideal candidates to be considered for safe and efficient drug delivery.

CPP-Based Bioactive Drug Delivery to Penetrate the Blood-Brain Barrier: A Potential Therapy for Glioblastoma Multiforme.

BACKGROUND: A large number of studies have been conducted on the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Chemotherapeutic drugs cannot penetrate deeply into the brain parenchyma due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Hence, crossing BBB is a significant obstacle in developing new therapeutic methods for GBM. OBJECTIVE: Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have emerged as new tools that can efficiently deliver various substances across BBB. CPPs beneficial properties, such as BBB penetration capacity, low toxicity, and the ability to achieve active targeting and controllable drug release, have made them worthy candidates for GBM treatment. However, their application is limited by several drawbacks, including lack of selectivity, insufficient transport efficacy, and low stability. In order to overcome the selectivity issue, tumor targeting peptides and sequences that can be activated at the target site have been embedded into the structure of CPPs. To overcome their insufficient transport efficacy into the cells, which is mostly due to endosomal entrapment, various endosomolytic moieties have been incorporated into CPPs. Finally, their instability in blood circulation can be solved through different modifications to their structures. As this field is moving beyond preclinical studies, the discovery of new and more efficient CPPs for GBM treatment has become crucial. Thus, by using display techniques, such as phage display, this encouraging treatment strategy can be developed further. CONCLUSION: Consequently, despite several challenges in CPPs application, recent progress in studies has shown their potential for the development of the next generation GBM therapeutics.