Lipid nanocarriers and molecular targets for malaria chemotherapy

Malaria is the most serious tropical disease of humankind and a cause of much debilitation and morbidity throughout the world especially in endemic areas like India and Africa. The development of drug resistance may be due to insufficient drug concentration in presence of high parasite load. In addition, the present pharmaceutical dosage forms are ineffective thereby necessitating the development of novel dosage forms which are effective, safe and affordable to underprivileged population of the developing world. The rapid advancement of nanotechnology has raised the possibility of using lipid nanocarriers that interact within biological environment for treatment of infectious diseases. Thus, lipid based nano-delivery systems offer a platform to formulate old and toxic antimalarial drugs thereby modifying their pharmacokinetic profile, biodistribution and targetability. Further, there is a need to develop new chemotherapy based approaches for inhibiting the parasite-specific metabolic pathways. The present review highlights the advances in lipid nanocarriers and putative molecular targets for antimalarial chemotherapy.