Advanced Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1183

Special Issue Editors


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Department of Life and Environmental Physics, Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 077125 Magurele, Romania
Interests: thin films; biomaterials; materials chemistry; cancer research; biomedical engineering; microscopy; tumors; cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Life and Environmental Physics, Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 077125 Magurele, Romania
Interests: radioresistant cancer cell biology; tumor cell radiosensitization; DNA damage signaling; mitochondria–nucleus communication; radiation-induced bystander effects; radiation response biomarkers; tumor microenvironment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Pharmaceutics entitled “Advanced Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition”. It is known that nanoparticle-based systems for therapeutic applications have the ability to pass through biological barriers and target the affected tissues. In the case of drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles, they can enter, and accumulate in, the targeted cells and reach the drug therapeutic target while reducing its systemic toxicity. Moreover, the release of the drug can be controlled and triggered by environmental factors such as pH, light, or enzymes.

This Special Issue will cover recent advancements in nanoparticle design and synthesis for drug delivery applications, characterization, and evaluation, as well as in vitro, in vivo, clinical, or in silico testing. Applications in cancer therapy, antimicrobial or antiviral agents, wound healing, or tissue regeneration can be addressed.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Roxana Cristina Popescu
Dr. Diana Savu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • nanomaterials
  • drug delivery systems
  • cancer therapy
  • antimicrobial applications
  • antiviral applications

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 8634 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Glutathione Depletion-Enhanced Porphyrin-Based nMOFs for Photodynamic Therapy
by Bin Gong, Qiuyun Zhang, Jiayi Chen, Yijie Qu, Xuanxuan Luo, Weiqi Wang and Xiaohua Zheng
Pharmaceutics 2025, 17(2), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics17020244 - 12 Feb 2025
Viewed by 854
Abstract
Photodynamic therapy has established itself as a clinical treatment for certain superficial cancers by converting oxygen into cytotoxic singlet oxygen to eradicate cancer cells. Porphyrin-based nanoscale metal–organic frameworks have emerged as promising photosensitive platforms due to their ability to prevent the hydrophobic aggregation [...] Read more.
Photodynamic therapy has established itself as a clinical treatment for certain superficial cancers by converting oxygen into cytotoxic singlet oxygen to eradicate cancer cells. Porphyrin-based nanoscale metal–organic frameworks have emerged as promising photosensitive platforms due to their ability to prevent the hydrophobic aggregation quenching of porphyrin molecules and enhance accumulation at the tumor site, thereby becoming a focal point in photodynamic materials research. However, the elevated levels of glutathione and other reductive substances within cancer cells can alleviate the oxidative stress induced by singlet oxygen from the photodynamic therapy process, thus protecting intracellular biomolecular structures from damage. Consequently, it is crucial to design functionalized nanoplatforms that integrate glutathione depletion with porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks to significantly boost photodynamic therapy efficacy. Moreover, the excess glutathione within cells can disrupt the structure of porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks, which not only increases the capacity of porphyrin molecules to generate singlet oxygen upon light exposure but also aids in the recovery of their fluorescence imaging capabilities. Additionally, this specificity minimizes the photosensitizing harm of porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks to other normal tissues. This review compiles recent advancements in developing porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks for enhanced phototherapy through glutathione depletion. It aims to promote the further application of porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks in phototherapy and provide valuable insights for preclinical applications. By highlighting strategies that improve therapeutic outcomes while maintaining safety profiles, this summary seeks to advance the development of more effective and targeted cancer treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition)
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