Principles of nanoparticle design for overcoming biological barriers to drug delivery.
Biological barriers to drug transport prevent successful accumulation of nanotherapeutics specifically at diseased sites, limiting efficacious responses in disease processes ranging from cancer to inflammation. Although substantial research efforts have aimed to incorporate multiple functionalities and moieties within the overall nanoparticle design, many of these strategies fail to adequately address these barriers. Obstacles, such as nonspecific distribution and inadequate accumulation of therapeutics, remain formidable challenges to drug developers. A reimagining of conventional nanoparticles is needed to successfully negotiate these impediments to drug delivery. Site-specific delivery of therapeutics will remain a distant reality unless nanocarrier design takes into account the majority, if not all, of the biological barriers that a particle encounters upon intravenous administration. By successively addressing each of these barriers, innovative design features can be rationally incorporated that will create a new generation of nanotherapeutics, realizing a paradigmatic shift in nanoparticle-based drug delivery.
Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.
Elvin
E
Blanco
Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.|Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA.
Haifa
H
Shen
Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.|Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA.
Mauro
M
Ferrari
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000633:toxicity; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000379:methods*; D015195:Drug Design; D053769:Nanocapsules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D053769:Nanocapsules