Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Polymers & Bioceramics, Pretoria, South Africa.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2009 May-Jun;1(3):255-63. doi: 10.1002/wnan.33.
Treatment of respiratory diseases and infections has proved to be a challenging task, with the incidence of these ailments increasing worldwide. Nanotechnology-based drug and gene delivery systems offer a possible solution to some of the shortfalls of the current treatment regimen. Nanobased drug delivery systems have revolutionised the field of pharmacotherapy by presenting the ability to alter the pharmacokinetics of the conventional drugs to extend the drug retention time, reduce the toxicity and increase the half-life of the drugs. Delivery of exogenous genes to the airway epithelium in vivo has been limited by several physiological barriers, resulting in the low success rate of these systems. With the advent of nanotechnology, DNA compacted with cationic polymers to produce nanoparticles has exhibited a significant increase in the transfection efficiencies. With nanoparticulate drug/gene delivery systems, specific cells can be targeted by functionalising the polymeric nanoparticles with ligands that allow the particles to dock at a specific site of the cell. In addition, polymeric systems allow for the cargo to be released in a controlled and stimuli-responsive manner. The advantages that nanoparticulate delivery systems present in the treatment of respiratory diseases and infections are summarised in this review.
治疗呼吸系统疾病和感染已被证明是一项具有挑战性的任务，这些疾病在全球范围内的发病率正在不断增加。基于纳米技术的药物和基因传递系统为解决当前治疗方案的一些不足之处提供了一种可能的解决方案。基于纳米的药物传递系统通过改变传统药物的药代动力学来延长药物滞留时间、降低毒性和增加药物半衰期，从而彻底改变了药物治疗学领域。外源性基因向气道上皮的体内传递受到多种生理屏障的限制，导致这些系统的成功率较低。随着纳米技术的出现，与阳离子聚合物压缩的 DNA 已被用来制备纳米颗粒，从而使转染效率显著提高。通过使用配体对聚合物纳米颗粒进行功能化，使颗粒能够与细胞的特定部位结合，从而使纳米颗粒药物/基因传递系统能够靶向特定的细胞。此外，聚合物系统允许以受控和响应性刺激的方式释放货物。本文综述了纳米颗粒传递系统在治疗呼吸系统疾病和感染方面的优势。
