Current status of nanoscale drug delivery and the future of nano-vaccine development for leishmaniasis – A review

The study of tropical diseases like leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease, has not received much attention even though it is the second-largest infectious disease after malaria. As per the WHO report, a total of 0.7–1.0 million new leishmaniasis cases, which are spread by 23 Leishmania species in more than 98 countries, are estimated with an alarming 26,000–65,000 death toll every year. Lack of potential vaccines along with the cost and toxicity of amphotericin B (AmB), the most common drug for the treatment of leishmaniasis, has raised the interest significantly for new formulations and drug delivery systems including nanoparticle-based delivery as anti-leishmanial agents.

The size, shape, and high surface area to volume ratio of different NPs make them ideal for many biological applications. The delivery of drugs through liposome, polymeric, and solid-lipid NPs provides the advantage of high biocomatibilty of the carrier with reduced toxicity. Importantly, NP-based delivery has shown improved efficacy due to targeted delivery of the payload and synergistic action of NP and payload on the target. This review analyses the advantage of NP-based delivery over standard chemotherapy and natural product-based delivery system. The role of different physicochemical properties of a nanoscale delivery system is discussed.

Further, different ways of nanoformulation delivery ranging from liposome, niosomes, polymeric, metallic, solid-lipid NPs were updated along with the possible mechanisms of action against the parasite. The status of current nano-vaccines and the future potential of NP-based vaccine are elaborated here.

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Article information: Pragya Prasanna, Prakash Kumar, Saurabh Kumar, Vinod Kumar Rajana, Vishnu Kant, Surendra Rajit Prasad, Utpal Mohan, V. Ravichandiran, Debabrata Mandal, Current status of nanoscale drug delivery and the future of nano-vaccine development for leishmaniasis – A review, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 141, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111920.