Nanocarriers with smartness and responsiveness programmed for use in therapy

Due to the exceptional advances in biomedical nanotechnology in recent times, established drug delivery systems (DDSs) have developed into smart DDSs that possess stimuli-responsive features. Further enhanced by their reaction to certain external or internal stimuli, these distinct nanoplatforms are able to improve efficiency of drug targeting as well as diminishing the toxicity and side effects associated with the load, which are considered important issues for increasing the medication adherence of patients.Through academic research a range of smart DDSs have exhibited an array of interesting systems, for example; liposomes, exosomes, metals/metal oxides and stimuli-responsive polymeric nanoparticles. Nevertheless, the aforementioned nanoplatforms do not have a consistent and standardised toxicity evaluation experience, production technique or a well-defined significance concerning the pre-clinical and clinical research. As a consequence, nanoplatforms face many obstacles in acquiring ethical agreement and regulatory approval.Thus, as of yet these rather intricate stimulus-sensitive nano-DDSs have not been sanctioned for use in clinical practice. Through this analysis, the latest improvements related to the targeted drug delivery of smart nanoplatforms has been evaluated. Moreover, the obstacles hampering clinical translation of smart nanoplatforms has been examined and reviewed. Additionally, the potential directions and assessments of stimuli-sensitive DDSs used in clinical practice will also be presented.

Keywords:

Responsive , smart , intelligent , therapy , diagnostics