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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Methods Development for Blood Borne Macrophage Carriage of Nanoformulated Antiretroviral Drugs
Published on: December 9, 2010
Macrophage endocytic trafficking of antiretroviral nanoparticles
Irena Kadiu1, Ari Nowacek, Joellyn McMillan
1Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985800 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-5880, USA.
Aim:
Nanoformulated antiretroviral therapy can improve drug compliance for people infected with HIV. Additional benefits would include specific drug deliveries to viral reservoirs and reduction in systemic toxicities.
Methods:
In this article, we describe mechanisms of crystalline antiretroviral nanoparticle (NP) uptake, intracellular trafficking and release in human monocyte-derived macrophages.
Results:
Following clathrin-dependent endocytosis NPs bypassed lysosomal degradation by sorting from early endosomes to recycling endosome pathways. Disruption of this pathway by siRNAs or brefeldin-A impaired particle release. Proteomic and biological analysis demonstrated that particle recycling was primarily Rab11 regulated. Particles were released intact and retained complete antiretroviral efficacy.
Conclusion:
These results suggest possible pathways of subcellular transport of antiretroviral nanoformulations that preserve both particle integrity and antiretroviral activities demonstrating the potential utility of this approach for targeted drug delivery.
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