Advances in Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery and Targeting, 2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2024) | Viewed by 642

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Biosciences and Applications, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, 15310 Athens, Greece
Interests: nano-sized systems; drug encapsulation and delivery; drug targeting; surface functionalization; material characterization; controlled release; natural products; metal complexes; radiopharmaceuticals
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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete and Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (I.E.S.L.), Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FO.R.T.H.), Vassilika Vouton, Heraklion, 70013 Crete, Greece
Interests: design and engineering of protein and peptide biomaterials; drug delivery; self-assembling proteins and peptides; physico-chemical stability of biomolecules; microneedle drug delivery; protein and gene carriers; adenovirus proteins; amyloid fibrils
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanotechnology has emerged as an area of active investigation, especially regarding its applications in medicine. Among all these applications, nanocarrier-assisted drug delivery systems have gained increasing recognition in recent years for the development of pharmaceuticals that can be directed toward specific targets of the body to improve the therapeutic outcome while reducing side-effects.

Nanocarriers serve as viable and durable nanovehicles for the targeted delivery of bioactive compounds such as vaccines, genes, drugs, and other biomolecules, providing increased solubility and thus bioavailability, biocompatibility, physicochemical stability, protection from degradation, and controllable release profiles.

In addition, the modifiable surfaces of nanocarriers also expand their usability in different biomedical applications, especially in targeted therapy. Indeed, their modification can not only stabilize but also functionalize them to be responsive to different stimuli, improving their therapeutic efficacy.

In this Special Issue of Pharmaceutics, we invite research, and review articles that advance our knowledge of nanosized drug delivery systems. Topics include, but are not limited to, theoretical and experimental research on the synthesis and development of functionalized nanocarriers or nanoformulations with targeting potential, their physicochemical and biological characterization, nanoparticle interactions with the immune system, in vitro and in vivo studies, preclinical and clinical studies, as well as safety issues regarding their production, handling, and disposal. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Eleftherios Halevas
Dr. Chrysoula Kokotidou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nanosized systems
  • drug encapsulation
  • drug targeting
  • surface functionalization
  • biodistribution
  • controlled release
  • triggered release
  • biological evaluation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2485 KiB  
Article
Dual-Omics Approach Unveils Novel Perspective on the Quality Control of Genetically Engineered Exosomes
by Christopher Olson, Konstantin Ivanov, Darin Boyes, David Bengford, Joy Ku, Renceh Flojo, Pengyang Zhang and Biao Lu
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(6), 824; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16060824 - 18 Jun 2024
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Abstract
Exosomes, nanoscale vesicles derived from human cells, offer great promise for targeted drug delivery. However, their inherent diversity and genetic modifications present challenges in terms of ensuring quality in clinical use. To explore solutions, we employed advanced gene fusion and transfection techniques in [...] Read more.
Exosomes, nanoscale vesicles derived from human cells, offer great promise for targeted drug delivery. However, their inherent diversity and genetic modifications present challenges in terms of ensuring quality in clinical use. To explore solutions, we employed advanced gene fusion and transfection techniques in human 293T cells to generate two distinct sets of genetically engineered samples. We used dual-omics analysis, combining transcriptomics and proteomics, to comprehensively assess exosome quality by comparing with controls. Transcriptomic profiling showed increased levels of engineering scaffolds in the modified groups, confirming the success of genetic manipulation. Through transcriptomic analysis, we identified 15 RNA species, including 2008 miRNAs and 13,897 mRNAs, loaded onto exosomes, with no significant differences in miRNA or mRNA levels between the control and engineered exosomes. Proteomics analysis identified changes introduced through genetic engineering and over 1330 endogenous exosome-associated proteins, indicating the complex nature of the samples. Further pathway analysis showed enrichment in a small subset of cellular signaling pathways, aiding in our understanding of the potential biological impacts on recipient cells. Detection of over 100 cow proteins highlighted the effectiveness of LC-MS for identifying potential contaminants. Our findings establish a dual-omics framework for the quality control of engineered exosome products, facilitating their clinical translation and therapeutic applications in nanomedicine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery and Targeting, 2nd Edition)
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