Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 21, Issue 11, 2014

Designing therapeutic agents requires receptor targeting and drug delivery for optimal medication to improve health. Although innovative strategies help drug delivery, many therapeutic agents have side effects due to nonspecific binding. Biomedical engineering aims to target the therapeutic agents in controlled release over an extended period of time at specific rate to a targeted location of the body. Generally, a Read More

Protein and peptide based therapeutics are typically administered by injection due to their poor uptake when administered via enteral routes of drug administration. Unfortunately, chronic administration of these drugs through multiple injections presents certain patient related problems and it is difficult to mimic the normal physiological release patterns via this mode of drug administration. A need therefore exists to non-inva Read More

Proteins and peptides are widely indicated in many diseased states. Parenteral route is the most commonly em- ployed method of administration for therapeutic proteins and peptides. However, requirement of frequent injections due to short in vivo half-life results in poor patient compliance. Non-invasive drug delivery routes such as nasal, transdermal, pulmonary, and oral offer several advantages over parenteral administrat Read More

In the last few decades, novel drug delivery strategies have been a big priority to the formulation scientists. Peptides and proteins have drawn a special attention for their wide scope in the area. Serum albumin, transferrin, recom- binant proteins, virus capsids etc. are used as carrier for drug and biomolecules. Conjugates of polymers with proteins have also shown strong potency in the field of drug delivery. Polyethylene glycol Read More

Macromolecular drugs (e.g., proteins and nucleic acids) are highly environmentally liable and unstable, and their administration is strictly limited to injection. Moreover, a vast majority of macromolecules are cell membrane- impermeable, and it is a critical issue to enhance the cellular uptake efficiency for improving the treatment outcomes. Cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-assisted strategy is promising for effective macromolec Read More

Phytochemicals are becoming more and more interesting in the field of therapeutic research, mainly in the treatment of chronic illnesses, due to the fact that many synthetic drugs cause important side effects that impact on pa- tient’s life quality. Pentacyclic triterpenes are a class of compounds with several therapeutic effects and increasing impor- tance in cancer therapy; however, a major disadvantage is their low Read More

Effective delivery of therapeutic agents to tumour cells is essential to the success of most cancer treatment therapies except for surgery. The transport of drug in solid tumours involves multiple biophysical and biochemical proc- esses which are strongly dependent on the physicochemical properties of the drug and biological properties of the tumour. Owing to the complexities involved, mathematical models are playing an i Read More

FMOC-isocyclosporine A, a fluorescent labeled cyclosporine A, was encapsulated in solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) prepared by the coacervation technique, and its anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated. The anti-inflammatory activity of the fluorescent labelled molecule, measured as inhibition of TNF-α secretion, is similar to the native one. SLN were compared to commercial formulations, through measurement of cyt Read More

Stable and mucoadhesive, lyophilised, thiolated chitosan xerogels, loaded with insulin for buccal mucosa deliv- ery, in place of the currently used parenteral route have been developed. The xerogels were backed with impervious ethyl- cellulose laminate to ensure unidirectional release and also loaded with enzyme inhibitor to enhance insulin permeability across the buccal mucosa. Characterisation of xerogels using 1 HNMR Read More

In this investigation a novel approach based on mucoadhesive superporous hydrogel hybrids (SPHHs) for topi- cal vaginal drug delivery for Metronidazole was tried. Method: SPHHs were synthesized by solution polymerization tech- nique. The synthesized SPHHs were characterized for tensile strength, swelling behavior, porosity, density, mucoadhesion time, SEM, DSC and FT-IR studies. In vitro drug release study from p Read More

Biodegradable and injectable in situ thermosensitive hydrogels were investigated for sustained delivery of pro- tein therapeutics in the treatment of ocular posterior segment neovascular diseases. A series of triblock (TB, polycaprolac- tone-polyethylene glycol-polycaprolactone (PCL-PEG-PCL), B-A-B) and pentablock copolymers (PBCs) (polylactic acid (PLA)-PCL-PEG-PCL-PLA (C-B-A-B-C) and PEG-PCL-PLA-PCL-PEG (A-B-C-B-A)) were Read More