Targeted and local delivery
Several formulations are designed to improve delivery at specific anatomical or cellular sites. Taurine-chitosan liposomes target intestinal taurine transporter proteins for oral doxorubicin delivery, while l-carnitine-modified pectin-chitosan nanoparticles exploit OCTN2 and ATB0,+ transporter expression in colon-cell models. Inulin nanoparticles instead provide microbial enzyme-responsive, colon-targeted release of 5-aminosalicylic acid. A chitosan-coated pterostilbene nanoemulgel uses mucoadhesion and intranasal administration for delivery toward the brain, with efficacy assessed in a rat model of ischemic stroke. Intranasal PLGA dapoxetine nanoparticles enabled rapid brain delivery, with effects assessed through behavioral, histopathological, and immunohistochemical analyses in normal and diabetic rats.
📄 Carbohydrate polymers ↗📄 International journal of biological macromolecules ↗📄 Theranostics ↗📄 Nanomedicine (London, England) ↗📄 Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology ↗
Cancer therapy and immunomodulation
Nanoparticles are repeatedly used to combine cytotoxic, photothermal, redox, and immune mechanisms in tumors. PEI/CpG/cis-aconityl-doxorubicin nanoparticles were developed as an intratumoral immunogenic-cell-death vaccine, while probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle conjugates carry collagenases and anti-PD-L1 antibodies into pancreatic tumors to deplete oncogenic collagen and improve checkpoint therapy. Other systems combine imiquimod vesicles with oxaliplatin in liver cancer or liver metastasis models, use a cancer-cell-membrane/liposome hybrid for NIR-II-triggered peroxynitrite generation in melanoma, or deliver oxygen and pemetrexed with PD-L1 blockade in biomimetic nanoreactors.
📄 Journal of advanced research ↗📄 Med (New York, N.Y.) ↗📄 Advanced healthcare materials ↗📄 Biomaterials ↗📄 Biomaterials ↗
Imaging and biosensing platforms
Nanomaterials serve as signal-amplifying or multimodal probes for disease detection. Gold nanoparticles coupled to DNA tetrahedra provide intercalative doxorubicin-binding sites in an electrochemical serum and cell-lysate assay, while carbon-nanotube/silica photonic-crystal barcodes in a herringbone microfluidic chip support multiplex cardiovascular biomarker measurements. Ultrasmall manganese ferrite nanoparticles provide both T1-weighted and susceptibility-weighted MRI contrast for glioma, and silver-nanoparticle nanocavities combined with machine vision quantify multiple microRNAs in lung-cancer cell extracts; a temperature-responsive gold-nanoparticle substrate captures urinary extracellular vesicles and performs in situ SERS profiling for urologic cancer classification.
📄 Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ↗📄 Biosensors & bioelectronics ↗📄 Advanced healthcare materials ↗📄 Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) ↗📄 Analytical chemistry ↗
mRNA and vaccine nanocarriers
The cited studies describe lipid, polymeric, and nanoemulsion systems for nucleic-acid vaccine delivery, including antigen-presenting-cell transfection and immune-response induction. Lipid nanoparticles carrying Usp26 mRNA were embedded in GelMA hydrogel microspheres to regulate osteoblast-osteoclast cross-talk and facilitate intervertebral fusion in osteoporotic rats, while cationic glycogen modified with ferritin light chain condensed DNA and targeted immature dendritic cells and lymph nodes. A PEG-free manganese-modified nanoemulsion delivered mRNA more efficiently to antigen-presenting cells than a Moderna LNP comparator and activated STING, and cationic liposome delivery of a gp100 mRNA vaccine was combined with the TLR7 agonist gardiquimod and the PERK inhibitor GSK2656157 in melanoma.
📄 Advanced healthcare materials ↗📄 Acta biomaterialia ↗📄 Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society ↗📄 Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces ↗
Inflammation, repair, and toxicity
Nanoparticle systems have been evaluated in psoriasis, osteoarthritis, wound-healing, and neurotoxicity models. Tacrolimus-loaded nanostructured lipid-carrier nanogel was tested in oxazolone and imiquimod psoriasis models, phosphorus dendrimers co-delivering catalase and quercetin reprogrammed macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype, and a chitosan-based conductive hydrogel containing CeO₂@PDA nanoparticles, combined with an ultrasound-activated piezoelectric film, accelerated wound closure and minimized scarring. Zinc oxide nanoparticles induced dose-dependent neuronal injury in mouse brain tissue and reduced viability of mouse hippocampal HT22 cells; they promoted Fe²⁺ accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and ferroptotic signaling through NCOA4-dependent ferritinophagy and maladaptive autophagy.
📄 International journal of pharmaceutics ↗📄 Biomaterials ↗📄 Carbohydrate polymers ↗📄 Chemico-biological interactions ↗