The drug-loading properties of nanocarriers depend on the chemical structures and properties of their building blocks. Here we customize telodendrimers (linear dendritic copolymer) to design a nanocarrier with improved in vivo drug delivery characteristics. We do a virtual screen of a library of small molecules to identify the optimal building blocks for precise telodendrimer synthesis using pe...

The cross-administration of nanocarriers modified by poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), named PEGylated nanocarriers, a type of combination therapy, is becoming an increasingly important method of long-term drug delivery, to decrease side effects, avoid multidrug resistance, and increase therapeutic efficacy. However, repeated injections of PEGylated nanocarriers induces the accelerated blood clearan...

BACKGROUND Despite marked optimism in the field of nanomedicine about the use of drug-delivery nanocarriers, uncertainties exist concerning nanocarriers' possible unintended impacts and effects. These uncertainties could affect user acceptance and acceptability. "Acceptance" refers to the intention to put a technology or a device to a specified use. "Acceptability" refers to a value judgment th...

Over the last few decades, nanocarriers for drug delivery have emerged as powerful tools with unquestionable potential to improve the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs. Many colloidal drug delivery systems are underdevelopment to ameliorate the site specificity of drug action and reduce the systemic side effects. By virtue of their small size they can be injected intravenously and dispos...

Most drugs are metabolized by hepatic cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), resulting in their reduced bioavailability. In this study, we present the design and evaluation of bio-compatible nanocarriers trapping a natural CYP3A4-inhibiting compound. Our aim in using nanocarriers was to target the natural CYP3A4-inhibiting agent to hepatic CYP3A4 and leave drug-metabolizing enzymes in other organs undis...

The side effects of antitumor drugs and low treatment efficacy are two major challenges of current chemotherapy. To address these issues, we developed a new kind of smart nanocarriers that combine pH-responsive chemotherapy and near-infrared (NIR) light triggered photodynamic therapy. These nanocarriers were based on upconversion nanoparticle (UCN)-loaded folate-conjugated polymeric lipid vesic...

Although targeting of cancer cells using drug-delivering nanocarriers holds promise for improving therapeutic agent specificity, the strategy of maximizing ligand affinity for receptors overexpressed on cancer cells is suboptimal. To determine design principles that maximize nanocarrier specificity for cancer cells, we studied a generalized kinetics-based theoretical model of nanocarriers with ...

In recent years, lung cancer has become one of the fastest growing cancers in the world. Thus, the development of efficient combination therapy to treat lung cancer has attracted significant attention in the cancer therapy field. In this article, we developed a single vehicle drug delivery system, based on quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles, to deliver small interfering RNA (siRNA; target Bcl-2) an...

The aim of this study was to develop lipid nanocarriers that combine tretinoin and tetracycline for the efficient topical delivery to treat acne vulgaris. Two different nanocarriers, nanoemulsions (NEs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), were prepared, and we examined their average size, zeta potential, drug encapsulation percentage, and drug permeation via the skin. The antibacterial ac...

The blood-brain barrier prevents the passage of many drugs that target the central nervous system. This paper presents the preparation and characterization of silica-based nanocarriers loaded with piracetam, pentoxifylline, and pyridoxine (drugs from the class of nootropics), which are designed to enhance the permeation of the drugs from the circulatory system through the blood-brain barrier. T...