Prodrug-based drug delivery systems: strategic approaches and emerging challenges in targeted therapeutics.

Importance of the field: Cytarabine is a polar nucleoside drug used for the treatment of myeloid leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The drug has a short plasma half-life, low stability and limited bioavailability. Overdosing of patients with continuous infusions may lead to side effects. Thus, various prodrug strategies and delivery systems have been explored extensively to enhance the half-life, stability and delivery of cytarabine. Among the recent cytarabine prodrugs, amino acid conjugate ValCytarabine and fatty acid derivative CP-4055 (in Phase III trials) have been investigated for the treatment of leukemia and solid tumors, respectively. Alternatively, delivery systems of cytarabine have emerged for the treatment of different cancers. The liposomal-cytarabine formulation (DepoCyt, Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc., New Jersey, USA) has been approved for the treatment of lymphomatous meningitis.Areas covered in this review: Various prodrug strategies evaluated for cytarabine are discussed. Then, the review summarizes the drug delivery systems that have been used for more effective cancer therapy.What the reader will gain: This review provides in-depth discussion of the prodrug strategy and delivery systems of cytarabine derivatives for the treatment of cancer. The design of cytarabine prodrugs and delivery systems provides insights for designing the next generation of more effective anticancer agents with enhanced delivery and stability.Take home message: Strategies on designing cytarabine prodrug and delivery formulations showed great promise in developing effective anticancer agents with better therapeutic profile. Similar studies with other anticancer nucleosides can be an alternative approach to gaining access to more effective anticancer agents.

Porous-based biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications

With the advent of the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology that has ushered new opportunities to develop multifunctional biomedical nanoparticles, nanoscientists are learning about the extraand intracellular interactions with these nanoparticles. This special issue of Drug Delivery and Translational Research is dedicated to publishing selected deliberations relating to drug delivery in the first NanoBio Collaborative International Conference 2012 (NBCIC 2012) that was organized by the University of South Florida Nanomedicine Research Center and was held in March 22–24, 2012. The goal of this conference was to promote closer research ties and networking opportunities within the nanoscience community of the State of Florida and to foster and encourage collaborative research efforts among national and international centers of excellence in nanotechnology. NBCIC 2012 brought together engineers, chemists, physicists, biologists, and clinicians from across the globe to discuss recent advances, opportunities, and barriers in nanoscience and nanotechnology and its applications to diagnosing and treating disease. The conference was comprised of several symposia, including nanobioengineering applications, cell technologies and regenerative medicine, theranostics, nanodrug delivery, and translational nanomedicine. This special issue presents four state-of-the-art reviews and four research articles highlighting the application of nanotechnology to drug delivery that were discussed in the conference. Sir Harold Kroto, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1996), was a Keynote Speaker discussing his vision of nanoscience and nanotechnology in the twenty-first century and has written a preface for this issue. He provided examples of technology use in the future from medicine and molecular electronics to civil engineering. Expanding on medical applications, he stated “the drug industry has focused on the production of relatively simple molecules... these molecules are now highlighting incredibly exciting new directions for molecular biological research and challenging new perspectives for pharmaceutical research and development”. The last decade has seen progress in development of biomaterials for tissue engineering applications; however, self-assembling peptide scaffolds especially for delivery of drugs to injured tissues or organs have been poorly investigated. The first review by Veronica et al. reviews the application of self-assembling peptide scaffolds as an innovative platform for drug and cell delivery to restore cardiac tissue after myocardial infarction. Targeted drug delivery has been the holy grail of cancer therapy. The review article byYin et al. discusses cyclodextrinbased supramolecules, polymers, and nanoparticles bearing targeting moieties such as folates, estrogens, carbohydrates, and peptides as a promising drug delivery system. While effective delivery of therapeutics to the central nervous system (CNS) remains a formidable challenge, the article by Shah et al. reviews the major barriers to CNS delivery and nanotechnology-based solutions for effective drug delivery to the CNS. The article discusses different forms of nanoparticlebased drug delivery systems with emphasis on different modes of delivery to the brain and their safety issues. Last but not least, theranostic nanoparticles that combine both therapeutic and imaging modalities has the promise to revolutionalize diagnosis, treatment, and post-therapy monitoring. The review of Howell et al. summarizes recent developments in theranostic platforms, their advantages and disadvantages in the diagnosis and treatment of various S. Mohapatra (*) Department of Molecular Medicine, and USF Nanomedicine Research Center, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA e-mail: smohapa2@health.usf.edu

A comprehensive exploration of the role of natural and synthetic biopolymers in modern therapeutics. Bridging fundamental science with applied biomedical research, the book highlights how biopolymers function as drug carriers, vaccine adjuvants, bioactive agents, and innovative tools for next-generation treatment strategies. The volume covers specialized discussions on nano-based biopolymer systems, enzyme-triggered delivery platforms and AI-driven biopolymer design. The volume also examines the sources, chemistry, and properties of biopolymers while showcasing their applications in drug delivery, wound healing, cancer therapy, tissue engineering, and immunomodulation alongwith regulatory considerations,offering both foundational insights and forward-looking perspectives. Key Features: - Explores biological sources, chemistry, and synthetic pathways of biopolymers. - Examines applications in drug delivery, cancer therapy, and tissue engineering. - Highlights nano-biopolymers, stimuli-responsive systems, and immunomodulatory roles. - Showcases AI-powered innovations and emerging therapeutic strategies. - Bridges laboratory science with clinical and industrial translation.

This review aims to address the significant challenges of treating central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases, strokes, spinal cord injuries, and brain tumors. These disorders are difficult to manage due to the complexity of disease mechanisms and the protective blood-brain barrier (BBB), which restricts drug delivery. Recent advancements in nanoparticle (NP) technologies offer promising solutions, with potential applications in drug delivery, neuroprotection, and neuroregeneration. By examining current research, we explore how NPs can cross the BBB, deliver medications directly to targeted CNS regions, and enhance both diagnostics and treatment. Key NP strategies, such as passive targeting, receptor-mediated transport, and stimuli-responsive systems, demonstrate encouraging results. Studies show that NPs may improve drug delivery, minimize side effects, and increase therapeutic effectiveness in models of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, and glioblastoma. NP technologies thus represent a promising approach for CNS disorder management, combining drug delivery and diagnostic capabilities to enable more precise and effective treatments that could significantly benefit patient outcomes.

The field of biomaterials has advanced significantly in the past decade. With the growing need for high-throughput manufacturing and screening, the need for modular materials that enable streamlined fabrication and analysis of tissue engineering and drug delivery schema has emerged. Microparticles are a powerful platform that have demonstrated promise in enabling these technologies without the need to modify a bulk scaffold. This building block paradigm of using microparticles within larger scaffolds to control cell ratios, growth factors and drug release holds promise. Gelatin microparticles (GMPs) are a well-established platform for cell, drug and growth factor delivery. One of the challenges in using GMPs though is the limited ability to modify the gelatin post-fabrication. In the present work, we hypothesized that by thiolating gelatin before microparticle formation, a versatile platform would be created that preserves the cytocompatibility of gelatin, while enabling post-fabrication modification. The thiols were not found to significantly impact the physicochemical properties of the microparticles. Moreover, the thiolated GMPs were demonstrated to be a biocompatible and robust platform for mesenchymal stem cell attachment. Additionally, the thiolated particles were able to be covalently modified with a maleimide-bearing fluorescent dye and a peptide, demonstrating their promise as a modular platform for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications.

Nanomaterials have applications in almost every field and among them, green nanomaterials have various biological applications. Green nanomaterials are specifically useful for drug and DNA delivery applications. Considering that cellulose is the most abundant and easily available biomolecule, it has been used for preparing greener cellulose nanomaterials. Cellulosic nanowhiskers are a cost-effective and green alternative to chemical non-viral gene delivery systems. Cellulose nanowhiskers are commonly extracted from plant sources, and they are generally prepared by sulfuric and hydrochloric acid hydrolysis of plant cellulose. In this review, the topic of cellulose nanowhiskers as green biocompatible materials for gene and drug delivery is discussed with several practical examples.

The class, characteristics, and possible applications of nanotechnology in medicine are covered in the article below. In order to determine its significance and guide its evolution, it highlights the necessity of collaboration between scientists, governments, civil society sections, and the general public. As a result of their ability to readily penetrate human cells at the nanoscale, makes them valuable for cell target therapy, efficient drug delivery, and disease diagnostics, nanotechnology and medicine are significant disciplines. Additionally, pharmaceuticals are protected from degradation by the shield-like characteristics of nanoparticles. The intention of this study review is to present the next generation of medical scientists with a compilation of well-known attributes of nanomedicine and to highlight established techniques for medical research. The application of nanotechnology in sensitive medical procedures has been the subject of extensive research that have incorporated the most recent data from reliable sources. The possible applications of medically relevant nanotechnology in targeted drug delivery, gene therapy, cancer treatment, and inherited disorder treatment is looked at in this review article. It draws attention to the fact that additional effort is necessary to realize the great potential of nanotechnology in the healthcare sector. With an emphasis on nanomaterials and nanomedicines, this chapter explores the implementation of nanotechnology in clinical research. Their application in drug delivery, optometry, tissue engineering, immunology, neurological treatment, gene therapy, chemotherapy, diagnostic methods, surgical dentistry, wound care, visualization, and molecular repair are all investigated. The multilayer taxonomies of nanoparticles, biosensors, nanotechnology, and nanozymes are discussed in this article, with an emphasis on the internet of nano things (IoBNT) and its possible applications in medicine. It explores the potential to strengthen IoBNT's compatibility with the human body as well as the challenges to its successful deployment.

Chapter 7 - Biocomposites of Alginates in Drug Delivery

Introduction: In recent years, the treatment strategy for infectious and autoimmune diseases has significantly changed. Up to now, cancer treatment has been conducted on the basis of clinical and pathological methods. The most common cancer treatments is limited to chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. However, cancer treatment is still not optimal. Common challenges for treatment of certain disease, e.g. cancer, are: systematic and non-specific distribution of drug agents, intolerable toxicity, insufficient drug concentration at the site of treatment and drug resistance. In recent years, the development and application of nanotechnology has been considered revolutionary in the field of cancer treatment. This technology offers a unique way to early detection and treatment of cancer. Designing and developing o new drug delivery systems not only increases the drug activity in the target tissue, but also reduces the drug toxicity and leaves it in a controlled manner. Newcomer vesicles consist of non-ionic surfactants that are biodegradable, non-toxic, stable, and inexpensive and can be used for targeted drug delivery. The niosomal vesicles are composed of nonionic surfactants that are biodegradable, non-toxic, stable and lower cost; and it can be used for targeted drug delivery. The major advantages of niosomes can be mentioned: the greater chemical stability, high purity, the availability of various types of non-ionic surfactants, proper storage of drug and cheapness.

Glucose-responsive materials have attracted great intention in recent years due to their potential application in drug delivery. Phenylboronic acid-containing materials have been most widely studied and used in construction of glucose-responsive system for insulin delivery. This review covers the recent advances in synthesis of phenylboronic acid-based glucose-responsive materials, especially in forms of nanogels (microgels), micelles, vesicles, and mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Applications of these nanomaterials in drug delivery are discussed.

Targeted lipid based drug conjugates: A novel strategy for drug delivery

Natural fibers are abundant in natural resources. Natural fibers have been used in various applications. Natural fibers have been proved to be extremely useful in multiple fields in the world. Natural fibers possess great mechanical and optical properties. Nanocellulose fibers are obtained from plants and it has many applications. It can be used as a nanocomposite. They can be extracted by performing various techniques. It is used as a barrier due to its crystalline structure, which makes it difficult for molecules to flow through. Nanocellulose fibers are biodegradable, strong, lightweight, low density, and renewable since they have been produced from natural resources. They have immense applications in electricals, nanotechnology, medicine, drug delivery, aerospace, adsorbents, papermaking, and dental. The following review will focus on the properties of lignocellulose-derived nanocellulose, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and their applications in nanotechnology.

Supramolecular nanomedicines through rational design of self-assembling prodrugs

Disorders of the cardiovascular system are identified as the primary cause of fatal conditions, such as atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and stroke. It is mainly the damage of the arterial vascular system that leads to the development of many of these fatal diseases. Abnormalities in the arterial system directly affects blood circulation and ultimately results in irreversible peripheral organ or tissue damage. This review describes the challenges and opportunities in systemic and local drug delivery to the arterial tissue. Based on the unique anatomical and physiological constraints, advances in systemic (e.g., targeted nanotechnology-based formulations) and local (e.g., drug-eluting stent implantation) delivery technologies have provided insights into arterial therapeutic approaches, especially in coronary restenosis. Significant opportunities exist in further development of multifunctional nanosystems that can be incorporated with localized delivery strategies, such as double-balloon catheters, to improve drug residence and intracellular availability.KeywordsArterial DiseaseMetallic StentsNeointimal HyperplasiaLocal Drug DeliveryDrug RetentionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.