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Recent advances in active hepatic targeting drug delivery system
Yang Wang, Hongliang Du, Guangxi Zhai1
1Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xilu, Jinan 250012, China. professorgxzhai@126.com.
Current Drug Targets
|March 11, 2014
Summary
Developing targeted drug delivery systems is crucial for treating liver diseases. This review focuses on active targeting strategies using homing devices to improve drug accumulation and reduce toxicity in hepatic cells.
Area of Science:
- Hepatology
- Drug Delivery Systems
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Hepatic diseases pose significant treatment challenges despite existing therapies.
- Current passive targeting delivery systems show limited efficacy.
- There is an urgent need for advanced drug/gene delivery systems for liver diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in active hepatic targeting drug/gene delivery systems.
- To highlight the role of homing ligands and target receptors in improving drug delivery.
- To discuss strategies for enhancing drug accumulation and reducing off-target toxicity.
Main Methods:
- Review of literature on active targeting strategies for hepatic diseases.
- Focus on drug/gene delivery systems utilizing specific receptor-ligand interactions.
- Analysis of systems targeting receptors like ASGP-R, GA-R, GL-R, and HA-R.
Main Results:
- Active targeting systems demonstrate improved drug accumulation in target hepatic cells.
- Ligand-receptor interactions enable precise delivery, minimizing systemic toxicity.
- Examples of successful drug-polymer conjugates (e.g., Smancs®) for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment exist.
Conclusions:
- Active hepatic targeting holds significant promise for effective treatment of liver diseases.
- Designing novel delivery systems with grafted homing devices is key.
- Further development is needed to optimize these systems for clinical application.
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