Peptide nanomedicines for treatment of acute lung injury

Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) represent a heterogenous group of lung disease in critically ill patients. Despite the increased understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of ARDS, the mortality remains unacceptably high, ranging from 34% to 64%. Hence, ARDS represents an unmet medical need with an urgency to develop effective pharmacotherapies. Several promising targets that have been identified as potential therapies for ARDS have been limited because of difficulty with delivery. In particular, delivery of peptides and proteins to the lung is an ongoing challenge. Nanobiotechnology and nanoscience are the basis of innovative techniques to deliver drugs targeted to the site of inflamed organs, such as the lungs. Nanoscale drug delivery systems have the ability to improve the pharmacokinetics and pharmakodynamics of agents allowing an increase in the biodistribution of therapeutic agents to target organs, resulting in improved efficacy with reduction in drug toxicity. These systems are exploited for therapeutic purpose to carry the drug in the body in a controlled manner from the site of administration to the therapeutic target. Hence, it is an attractive strategy to test potential targets for ALI/ARDS using nanotechnology. To this end, we have identified several potential targets and proposed the delivery of these agents using nanomicelles to improve the drug delivery.