In silico and experimental studies of bovine serum albumin-encapsulated carbenoxolone nanoparticles with reduced cytotoxicity

Inflammation-Targeted Drug Delivery Strategies via Albumin-Based Systems

Albumin, being the most abundant serum protein, has the potential to significantly enhance the physicochemical properties of therapeutic payloads, thereby improving their pharmacological effects. Apart from its passive transport via the enhanced permeability and retention effect, albumin can actively accumulate in tumor microenvironments or inflammatory tissues via receptor-mediated processes. This unique property makes albumin a promising scaffold for targeted drug delivery. This review focuses on exploring different delivery strategies that combine albumin with drug payloads to achieve targeted therapy for inflammatory diseases. Also, albumin-derived therapeutic products on the market or undergoing clinical trials in the past decade have been summarized to gain insight into the future development of albumin-based drug delivery systems. Given the involvement of inflammation in numerous diseases, drug delivery systems utilizing albumin demonstrate remarkable advantages, including enhanced properties, improved in vivo behavior and efficacy. Albumin-based drug delivery systems have been demonstrated in clinical trials, while more advanced strategies for improving the capacity of drug delivery systems with the help of albumin remain to be discovered. This could pave the way for biomedical applications in more effective and precise treatments.

Green synthesis of bovine serum albumin/oxidized gum Arabic nanocomposite as pH-responsive carrier for controlled release of piperine and the molecular docking study

A safe drug carrier was synthesized by albumin (BSA) and oxidized gum arabic (OGA). Piperine (PIP) was loaded into BSA/OGA nanobiocomposites by desolvation method. A set of experiments were designed by considering different contents of OGA (5, 7.5 and 10 mg) and PIP (1 and 2 mg). The presence of the band at 1600-1660 cm^-1 in FTIR spectra revealed the successful interaction between OGA and BSA. PIP2-BSA/OGA5 was selected as a suitable carrier due to its smaller size (<300 nm) and higher loading efficiency (1.5 ± 0.2 %). The encapsulation efficiency of PIP into BSA/OGA5 was 57.6 ± 2 %. The average size, polydispersity index and zeta potential of PIP2-BSA/OGA5 were 292 ± 4.4 nm, 0.185 ± 0.03 and - 24.4 ± 1.7 mV, respectively. SEM and TEM images proved the formation of spherical-shaped nanoparticles. The disappearance of endothermic peak belonging to free PIP in DSC thermogram of PIP2-BSA/OGA5 evidenced its encapsulation into carrier. PIP2-BSA/OGA5 exhibited the sustained drug release. The cell viability of MCF-7 cells after 48 h exposure to BSA/OGA5, PIP2-BSA/OGA5 and free PIP was reported 90 %, 40.1 % and 30.6 %, respectively. The molecular docking study reported that the binding affinity of PIP for BSA/OGA nanocomposite was -8.7 kcal/mol indicating the acceptable stability of the prepared drug carrier.

Flower-like Composite Material Delivery of Co-Packaged Lenvatinib and Bufalin Prevents the Migration and Invasion of Cholangiocarcinoma

The co-delivery of multiple drugs using nanocarriers has been recognized as a promising strategy for cancer treatment to enhance therapeutic efficacy. In this study, a monodisperse mesoporous silica nanoparticle (mSiO₂) is prepared and functionalized into high-efficiency loaded Lenvatinib and Bufalin for targeted delivery to Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). mSiO₂ was synthesized on solid silica nanoparticles by oil–water interface method, and highly monodisperse mSiO₂ with uniform morphology was obtained. mSiO₂ was then sequentially modified by polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the targeting molecule folic acid (FA). mSiO₂-FA was designed as co-delivery system for Lenvatinib (Le) and Bufalin (Bu) to increase drug availability and highly target tumor cells. Compared with unfunctionalized mSiO₂, mSiO₂-FA can more efficiently enter human CCA cell lines (9810 cells) and enhance intracellular drug delivery. Moreover, drug-loaded mSiO₂-FA (Le/Bu@mSiO₂-FA) significantly inhibited the viability, migration and invasion of 9810 cells. In vivo, the nanocomplex significantly reduced the tumor load in CCA tumor-bearing mouse models compared to Le or Bu alone. The current work provides a useful strategy for highly targeted and multidrug-resistance reversal therapy for CCA.