title: Drug targeting to infectious diseases by nanoparticles surface functionalized with special biomolecules.
abstract: The potential to deliver nanoparticles directly into the targeted cells is important in the therapeutic applications for infectious diseases. The possibility of therapeutic agent being attached to the nanoparticles by chemical modification has provided a novel drug delivery option. Interestingly, the discovery of carbon nanotubes and graphene has given an excellent imaging and therapeutic agent for the biomedical applications. In spite of continuous advancement in pharmaceutical drug delivery viz. micelles, vesicles, liquid crystals, etc., during the past decades, their prohibitive production has limited their use. Nanomaterials with their properties of biodegradation, equal biodistribution, mass production, and long time storage make them attractive alternatives for future biomedical applications. Nanoparticles surface functionalized with specific biomolecules based drug delivery has driven new direction for modulating the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, biorecognition, and increasing the efficacy of targeted drugs. These new strategies are likely to minimize drug degradation and loss, increase drug availability, and opens up new vistas for drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India. drshyamsundar@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Shyam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sundar
authors.forename: Vijay Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Prajapati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000008:administration & dosage*