Covalent Conjugation of Amphotericin B to Hyaluronic Acid: An Injectable Water-Soluble Conjugate with Reduced Toxicity and Anti-Leishmanial Potential

Chemical modification of hyaluronic acid as a strategy for the development of advanced drug delivery systems

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has emerged as a promising biopolymer for various biomedical applications due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and intrinsic ability to interact with cell surface receptors, making it an attractive candidate for drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. Chemical modification of HA has opened up versatile possibilities to tailor its properties, enabling the development of advanced drug delivery systems and biomaterials with enhanced functionalities and targeted applications. This review analyzes the strategies and applications of chemically modified HA in the field of drug delivery and biomaterial development. The first part of the review focuses on the different methods and functional groups used for the chemical modification of HA, highlighting the impact of these modifications on its physicochemical properties, degradation behavior and interactions with drugs. The second part of the review evaluates the use of chemically modified HA in the development of advanced biomedical materials including nano- and microparticles, hydrogels and mucoadhesive materials with tailored drug release profiles, site-specific targeting and stimuli-responsive behavior. Thus, the review consolidates the current advances and future perspectives in the field of chemical modification of HA, underscoring its immense potential to drive the development of advanced drug delivery systems and biomaterials with diverse biomedical applications.

Applications and advancements of polysaccharide-based nanostructures for enhanced drug delivery

Growing demand for highly effective, site-specific delivery of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals using nano-sized carriers has prompted increased scrutiny of carrier biocompatibility and biodegradability. To address these concerns, biodegradable natural polymers have emerged as a transformative domain, offering non-toxic, precisely targetable carriers capable of finely modulating cargo pharmacokinetics while generating innocuous decomposition by-products. This comprehensive review illuminates the emergence of polysaccharide-based nanoparticulate drug delivery systems. These systems establish an interactive interface between drug and targeted organs, guided by strategic modifications to polysaccharide backbones, which facilitate the creation of morphologically, constitutionally, and characteristically vibrant nanostructures through various fabrication routes, underpinning their pivotal role in biomedical applications. Advancements crucial to enhancing polysaccharide-based drug delivery, such as surface modifications and bioinspired modifications for enhanced targeting, and stimuli-responsive release, strategies to overcome biological barriers, enhance tumor penetration, and optimize therapeutic outcomes are highlighted. This review also examines some potent challenges, and the contemporary way out of them, and discusses future perspectives in the field.

Conjugates of amphotericin B to resolve challenges associated with its delivery

INTRODUCTION

Amphotericin B (AmB), a promising antifungal and antileishmanial drug, acts on the membrane of microorganisms. The clinical use of AmB is limited due to issues associated with its delivery including poor solubility and bioavailability, instability in acidic media, poor intestinal permeability, dose and aggregation state dependent toxicity, parenteral administration, and requirement of cold chain for transport and storage, etc.

AREAS COVERED

Scientists have formulated and explored various covalent conjugates of AmB to reduce its toxicity with increase in solubility, oral bioavailability, and payload or loading of AmB by using various polymers, lipids, carbon-based nanocarriers, metallic nanoparticles, and vesicular carriers, etc. In this article, we have reviewed various conjugates of AmB with polymers and nanomaterials explored for its delivery to give a deep insight regarding further exploration in future.

EXPERT OPINION

Covalent conjugates of AmB have been investigated by scientists, and preliminary in vitro and animal investigations have given successful results, which are required to be validated further with systematic investigation on safety and therapeutic efficacy in animals followed by clinical trials.

Approved Nanomedicine against Diseases

Nanomedicine is a branch of medicine using nanotechnology to prevent and treat diseases. Nanotechnology represents one of the most effective approaches in elevating a drug‘s treatment efficacy and reducing toxicity by improving drug solubility, altering biodistribution, and controlling the release. The development of nanotechnology and materials has brought a profound revolution to medicine, significantly affecting the treatment of various major diseases such as cancer, injection, and cardiovascular diseases. Nanomedicine has experienced explosive growth in the past few years. Although the clinical transition of nanomedicine is not very satisfactory, traditional drugs still occupy a dominant position in formulation development, but increasingly active drugs have adopted nanoscale forms to limit side effects and improve efficacy. The review summarized the approved nanomedicine, its indications, and the properties of commonly used nanocarriers and nanotechnology.