Novel topical drug carriers as a tool for treatment of psoriasis: Progress and advances

Nanogel: A versatile drug delivery system for the treatment of various diseases and their future perspective

Nanogel (NG) drug delivery systems have emerged as promising tools for targeted and controlled drug release, revolutionizing treatment approaches across various diseases. Their unique physicochemical properties, such as nano size, high surface area, biocompatibility, stability, and tunable drug release, make them ideal carriers for a wide range of therapeutic agents. Nanogels (NGs), characterized by their 3D network of crosslinked polymers, offer unique edges like high drug loading capacity, controlled release, and targeted delivery. Additionally, the diverse applications of NGs in medical therapeutics highlight their versatility and potential impact on improving patient outcomes. Their application spans cancer treatment, infectious diseases, and chronic conditions, allowing for precise drug delivery to specific tissues or cells, minimizing side effects, and enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Despite their potential, challenges such as scalability, manufacturing reproducibility, and regulatory hurdles must be addressed. Achieving clinical translation requires overcoming these obstacles to ensure therapeutic payloads' safe and efficient delivery. Strategies such as surface modification and incorporating stimuli-responsive elements enhanced NG performance and addressed specific therapeutic challenges. Advances in nanotechnology, biomaterials, and targeted drug design offer opportunities to improve the performance of NGs and address current limitations. Tailoring NGs for exploring combination therapies and integrating diagnostics for real-time monitoring represent promising avenues for future research. In conclusion, NG drug delivery systems have demonstrated tremendous potential in diverse disease applications. Overcoming challenges and leveraging emerging technologies will pave the way for their widespread clinical implementation, ushering in a new era of precision medicine and improved patient care.

A comprehensive review on invasomal carriers incorporating natural terpenes for augmented transdermal delivery

Background

Transdermal drug delivery is one of the most widely used drug administration routes, which offer several advantages over other routes of drug delivery. The apical layer of the skin called the stratum corneum is the most dominant obstacle in the transdermal drug delivery, which restricts the passage of drugs across the skin. Considerable strategies have been applied to enhance the rate of permeation across the epithelial cells; however, the most widely used strategy is the use of sorption boosters, also known as permeation enhancers.

Main body

Terpenes were considered as efficient skin permeation enhancers and are generally recognized as safe as per Food and Drug Administration. Terpenes improve the permeability of drugs either by destructing the stratum corneum’s tightly packed lipid framework, excessive diffusivity of drug in cell membrane or by rampant drug partitioning into epithelial cells. Various vesicular systems have been developed and utilized for the transdermal delivery of many drugs. Invasomes are one such novel vesicular system developed which are composed of phospholipids, ethanol and terpenes. The combined presence of ethanol and terpenes provides exceptional flexibility to the vesicles and improves the permeation across the barrier offered due to the stratum corneum as both ethanol and terpenes act as permeation enhancers. Therefore, utilization of invasomes as carriers to facilitate higher rate of drug permeation through the skin can be a very useful approach to improve transdermal drug delivery of a drug.

Conclusion

The paper focuses on a broad updated view of terpenes as effective permeation enhancers and invasomes along with their applications in the pharmaceutical formulations.

In Vitro and Human Pilot Studies of Different Topical Formulations Containing Rosa Species for the Treatment of Psoriasis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the phytochemical profile and antioxidant properties of the extracts from three Rosa species (R. canina, R. damascena, R. cairo), to develop and investigate topical formulations with lyophilized forms of extracts for the treatment of psoriasis. Phytochemical screening and in vitro total antioxidant capacity (DPPH, FRAP, CUPRAC, SOD) of studied samples were examined and compared. Lyophilized extracts of roses were dissolved in Transcutol HP and different formulations of creams were prepared. Franz diffusion method was used to evaluate the drug release and biocompatibility was tested on HaCaT cells. Rosa damascene had the best results regarding all the analyses that were conducted. After the evaluation of topical products, the formulation with Rosa damascena extract in a self-emulsifying drug delivery system was tested on a human clinical study that involved 20 patients. At the end of the clinical study an improvement in the quality of life of the patients was observed and erythema, induration and scaling were reduced. The present study indicates that our examined extracts exhibited great phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and safety profile of topical formulation and therefore can be used as a reliable source of natural antioxidants and may be used as a complementary treatment to improve the quality life of patients with psoriasis or may be tested on another diseases.

Recent Advancement in Topical Nanocarriers for the Treatment of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a life-threatening autoimmune inflammatory skin disease, triggered by T lymphocyte. Recently, the drugs most commonly used for the treatment of psoriasis include methotrexate (MTX), cyclosporine (CsA), acitretin, dexamethasone, and salicylic acid. However, conventional formulations due to poor absorptive capacity, inconsistent drug release characteristics, poor capability of selective targeting, poor retention of drug molecules in target tissue, and unintended skin reactions restrict the clinical efficacy of drugs. Advances in topical nanocarriers allow the development of prominent drug delivery platforms can be employed to address the critical issues associated with conventional formulations. Advances in nanocarriers design, nano-dimensional configuration, and surface functionalization allow formulation scientists to develop formulations for a more effective treatment of psoriasis. Moreover, interventions in the size distribution, shape, agglomeration/aggregation potential, and surface chemistry are the significant aspects need to be critically evaluated for better therapeutic results. This review attempted to explore the opportunities and challenges of current revelations in the nano carrier-based topical drug delivery approach used for the treatment of psoriasis.

Nanostructured Non-Ionic Surfactant Carrier-Based Gel for Topical Delivery of Desoximetasone

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune skin disease impacting the population globally. Pharmaceutical products developed to combat this condition commonly used in clinical settings are IV bolus or oral drug delivery routes. There are some major challenges for effectively developing new dosage forms for topical use: API physicochemical nature, the severity of the disease state, and low bioavailability present challenges for pharmaceutical product developers. For non-severe cases of psoriasis, topical drug delivery systems may be preferred or used in conjunction with oral or parenteral therapy to address local symptoms. Elastic vesicular systems, termed “niosomes”, are promising drug delivery vehicles developed to achieve improved drug delivery into biological membranes. This study aimed to effectively incorporate a corticosteroid into the niosomes for improving the drug bioavailability of desoximetasone, used to treat skin conditions via topical delivery. Niosomes characterization measurements were drug content, pH, spreadability, specific gravity, content uniformity, rheology, and physicochemical properties. Formulations used a topical gelling agent, Carbomer 980 to test for in vitro skin permeation testing (IVPT) and accelerated stability studies. The developed niosomal test gel provided approximately 93.03 ± 0.23% to 101.84 ± 0.11% drug content with yield stresses ranging from 16.12 to 225.54 Pa. The permeated amount of desoximetasone from the niosomal gel after 24 h was 9.75 ± 0.44 µg/cm² compared to 24.22 ± 4.29 µg/cm² released from the reference gel tested. Furthermore, a drug retention study compared the test gel to a reference gel, demonstrating that the skin retained 30.88 ng/mg of desoximetasone while the reference product retained 26.01 ng/mg. A controlled drug release profile was obtained with a niosomal formulation containing desoximetasone for use in a topical gel formulation showing promise for potential use to treat skin diseases like psoriasis.

Analytical tools and evaluation strategies for nanostructured lipid carrier-based topical delivery systems

INTRODUCTION

The inception of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) proved to be a revolutionary step toward the treatment of dermatological disorders. To uncover its true potential, it is imperative that the system be characterized and evaluated comprehensively.

AREAS COVERED

The present review has been written to furnish an in-depth account of analytical tools and evaluation procedures under one roof. Besides discussing the challenges of topical delivery and benefits of NLCs, the paper elaborates on their physicochemical characterization. Further, in vitro evaluation of NLCs for dermatological benefits, followed by their evaluation in a hydrogel/cream base is covered. Lastly, disease-specific evaluation of NLC-based formulations is presented.

EXPERT OPINION

The research endeavors for NLCs have largely focused on the fabrication of NLCs for different bioactives. However, scientific efforts should be aimed toward the lesser explored realm of NLCs, i.e. exploitation of analytical techniques, such as Parelectric spectroscopy, Electron Spin Resonance, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. NLCs have been proven for their potential to foster the therapeutic modalities applicable to cutaneous disorders. More attention needs to be devoted to their evaluation for disease-specific parameters. The futuristic steps must involve clinical studies, to lay the path for their commercialization.

In vivo drug delivery applications of nanogels: a review

In recent years, nanogels have emerged as promising drug delivery vehicles; their ability in holding active molecules, macromolecules and drugs, together with the capability to respond to external stimuli, makes them a suitable tool for a wide range of applications. These features allow nanogels to be exploited against many challenges of nanomedicine associated with different kinds of pathologies which require the use of specific drug delivery systems. In this review our aim is to give the reader an overview of the diseases that can be treated with nanogels as drug delivery systems, such as cancer, CNS disorders, cardiovascular diseases, wound healing and other diseases of human body. For all of these pathologies, biological in vivo assays can be found in the literature and in this work. We focus on the peculiarities of these nanogels, highlighting their features and their advantages in respect to conventional treatments.

Dithranol: An Insight into its Novel Delivery Cargos for Psoriasis Management

OBJECTIVE

Dithranol (DTH) is a well-known moiety that has long been used promisingly to impede and treat skin disorders, particularly psoriasis. Nowadays, a rekindled interest in the use of DTH for this disorder has been observed. Side effects associated with conventional topical formulations of this moiety have aroused the interest of the scientific community in investigating novel cargos of DTH for psoriasis management.

RESULTS

Previous research has evidenced the anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferating potential of DTH. Numerous studies have indicated that DTH inhibits polymorphonuclear (PMN) leucocyte, modulates epidermal cell receptors and promotes anti-psoriatic action. However, some deterrent factors like poor solubility, stability, toxicity, staining and skin irritation hamper its use as a potential therapeutic agent. With the adoption of novel drug delivery technologies, the above mentioned inherent limitations of DTH have been compensated to reestablish this drug moiety.

CONCLUSION

This article reviews novel drug delivery aspects, safety concerns, clinical evidence, current status, and future opportunities of DTH in the management of psoriasis. Further, it will update researchers on this promising drug moiety, which is free from systemic adverse responses in comparison to other therapeutic molecules like steroids, for psoriasis treatment.