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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sangkil Lee

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Guest Editor

College of Pharmacy, Keimyung University, Republic of Korea
Interests: solubilization; BA enhancement; nanomedicine; protein and peptide formulation; cell penetrating peptide; polymeric micelles; liposomes

Dr. Young Wook Choi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea
Interests: self-emulsifying nano drug delivery systems; cancer therapy; polymeric micelles; cell-penetrating peptides; liposomes; BA enhancement; PLGA microspheres; nanomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomedicines are a rapidly emerging research area in the field of drug delivery systems. Nanomedicines can be manufactured from a wide variety of materials such as natural and synthetic polymers, lipids, DNA, and inorganic substances. By controlling the size, shape, surface tension, and surface charge of particles, they are applied to cancer treatment; inflammatory disease treatment; and targeting of cells, tissues, and organs, and they are long-acting in the body. In addition, endless research is being conducted by conjugating polyethyleneglycol, cell penetrating peptides, aptamers, Extra Cellula Matrix (ECM) components, and antibodies or peptide ligands to the surface of nanomedicines.

The purpose of this Issue is to gather interesting information from sophisticated nanostructure-based drug-delivery-system researchers who are particularly interested in the pharmaceutical science and nanomedicine fields. Research articles and reviews on the design, development, and characterization of innovative nanostructured carriers, improved drug stability, targeting, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles, and pharmacological investigations, as well as their application to medical and biomedical aspects, are also welcome.

Dr. Sangkil Lee
Dr. Young Wook Choi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

nanostructured carriers
nanomedicine
polymer nanoparticles
polymeric micelles
mixed micelles
dendrimers
lipid-based nanoparticles
liposomes
self-assembled nanoparticles
inorganic nanoparticles
antibody conjugation
colloidal drug-delivery systems
hydrophobic ion-pairing
self-emulsifying
PEGylation
core-shell structure
nano/microencapsulation
surface modification
drug targeting
long-acting
sustained release

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 5226 KiB

Open AccessArticle

PEG Graft Polymer Carriers of Antioxidants: In Vitro Evaluation for Transdermal Delivery

by Justyna Odrobińska, Magdalena Skonieczna and Dorota Neugebauer

Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(12), 1178; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pharmaceutics12121178 - 03 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2426

Abstract

The in vitro biochemical evaluation of the applicability of polymers carrying active substances (micelles and conjugates) was carried out. Previously designed amphiphilic graft copolymers with retinol or 4-n-butylresorcinol functionalized polymethacrylate backbone and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains that included Janus-type heterografted copolymers containing both PEG and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) side chains were applied as micellar carriers. The polymer self-assemblies were convenient to encapsulate arbutin (ARB) as the selected active substances. Moreover, the conjugates of PEG graft copolymers with ferulic acid (FA) or lipoic acid (LA) were also investigated. The permeability of released active substances through a membrane mimicking skin was evaluated by conducting transdermal tests in Franz diffusion cells. The biological response to new carriers with active substances was tested across cell lines, including normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF), human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT), as well as cancer melanoma (Me45) and metastatic human melanoma (451-Lu), for comparison. These polymer systems were safe and non-cytotoxic at the tested concentrations for healthy skin cell lines according to the MTT test. Cytometric evaluation of cell cycles as well as cell death defined by Annexin-V apoptosis assays and senescence tests showed no significant changes under action of the delivery systems, as compared to the control cells. In vitro tests confirmed the biochemical potential of these antioxidant carriers as beneficial components in cosmetic products, especially applied in the form of masks and eye pads. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sophisticated Nanostructures for Advanced Drug Delivery)

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Review

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 1481 KiB

Open AccessReview

Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Core-Shell Nanodrug Systems in Targeted Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer

by Gauta Gold Matlou and Heidi Abrahamse

Pharmaceutics 2021, 13(11), 1773; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pharmaceutics13111773 - 23 Oct 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1970

Abstract

Hybrid inorganic-organic core-shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) are an emerging paradigm of nanodrug carriers in the targeted photodynamic therapy (TPDT) of cancer. Typically, metallic cores and organic polymer shells are used due to their submicron sizes and high surface to volume ratio of the metallic nanoparticles (NPs), combined with enhances solubility, stability, and absorption sites of the organic polymer shell. As such, the high loading capacity of therapeutic agents such as cancer specific ligands and photosensitizer (PS) agents is achieved with desired colloidal stability, drug circulation, and subcellular localization of the PS agents at the cancer site. This review highlights the synthesis methods, characterization techniques, and applications of hybrid inorganic-organic CSNPs as loading platforms of therapeutic agents for use in TPDT. In addition, cell death pathways and the mechanisms of action that hybrid inorganic-organic core-shell nanodrug systems follow in TPDT are also reviewed. Nanodrug systems with cancer specific properties are able to localize within the solid tumor through the enhanced permeability effect (EPR) and bind with affinity to receptors on the cancer cell surfaces, thus improving the efficacy of short-lived cytotoxic singlet oxygen. This ability by nanodrug systems together with their mechanism of action during cell death forms the core basis of this review and will be discussed with an overview of successful strategies that have been reported in the literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sophisticated Nanostructures for Advanced Drug Delivery)

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