title: Drug Carriers: Not an Innocent Delivery Man.
abstract: Biomaterials used as drug carriers are often considered inactive and assumed to have no other roles than modifying pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of a drug. On the other hand, there are several examples in which the carrier materials show bioactivities in the body, which may have been underestimated or inadvertently ignored. This review highlights several examples where biomaterials used as drug carriers bring biological effects, known or newly discovered, and discusses their implications in development of new drug delivery systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University, 575 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA, yyeo@purdue.edu.
authors.forename: Yoon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yeo
authors.forename: Bieong-Kil
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004337:Drug Carriers