Progress in Nanoparticulate Systems for Peptide, Proteins and Nucleic Acid Drug Delivery

Progress in many therapies, in particular in the therapies based on peptides, proteins and nucleic acids used as bioactive compounds, strongly depends on development of appropriate carriers which would be suitable for controlled delivery of the intact abovementioned compounds to required tissues, cells and intracellular compartments. This review presents last ten years' achievements and problems in development and application of synthetic polymer nanoparticulate carriers for oral, pulmonary and nasal delivery routes of oligopeptides and proteins. Whereas some traditional synthetic polymer carriers are only briefly recalled the main attention is concentrated on nanoparticles produced from functional copolymers mostly with hydroxyl, carboxyl and amino groups, suitable for immobilization of targeting moieties and for assuring prolonged circulation of nanoparticles in blood. Formulations of various nanoparticulate systems are described, including solid particles, polymer micelles, nanovesicles and nanogels, especially systems allowing drug release induced by external stimuli. Discussed are properties of these species, in particular stability in buffers and models of body fluids, loading with drugs and with drug models, drug release processes and results of biological studies. There are also discussed systems for gene delivery with special attention devoted to polymers suitable for compacting nucleic acids into nanoparticles as well as the relations between chemical structure of polymer carriers and ability of the latter for crossing cell membranes and for endosomal escape.