Department of Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza 12311, Egypt.
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Graduate studies and Research, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2021 Jan 15;167:1527-1543. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.11.107. Epub 2020 Nov 17.
A successful drug delivery to a specific site relies on two essential factors including; efficient entrapment of the drug within the carrier and successful delivery of drug- loaded nanocarrier to the target site without opsonisation or drug release in the circulation before reaching the organ of interest. Lactoferrin (LF) is a glycoprotein belonging to the transferrin (TF) family which can bind to TF receptors (TFRs) and LF membrane internalization receptors (LFRs) highly expressed on the cell surface of both highly proliferating cancer cells and blood brain barrier (BBB), which in turn can facilitate its accessibility to the cell nucleus. This merit could be exploited to develop actively targeted drug delivery systems that can easily cross the BBB or internalize into tumor cells. In this review, the most recent advances of utilizing LF as an active targeting ligand for different types of nanocarriers including: inorganic nanoparticles, dendrimers, synthetic biodegradable polymers, lipid nanocarriers, natural polymers, and nanoemulstions will be highlighted. Collectively, LF seems to be a promising targeting ligand in the field of nanomedicine.
要实现药物向特定部位的成功输送，依赖于两个关键因素：一是将药物有效包埋于载体中；二是在到达靶位之前，载药纳米载体在循环中不被调理或不发生药物释放。乳铁蛋白（LF）是转铁蛋白（TF）家族的一种糖蛋白，它可以与 TF 受体（TFRs）和 LF 膜内化受体（LFRs）结合，这些受体在高增殖癌细胞和血脑屏障（BBB）的细胞表面高度表达，从而可以促进其进入细胞核。这一优势可以用来开发主动靶向药物输送系统，使它们能够轻易穿透血脑屏障或内化进入肿瘤细胞。在这篇综述中，将重点介绍 LF 作为不同类型纳米载体（包括无机纳米颗粒、树枝状聚合物、合成可生物降解聚合物、脂质纳米载体、天然聚合物和纳米乳液）的主动靶向配体的最新进展。总之，LF 似乎是纳米医学领域中一种很有前途的靶向配体。
