The utility and risks of therapeutic nanotechnology in the retina

Abstract

The clinical application of nanotechnology in medicine is promising for therapeutic, diagnostic, and surgical improvements in the near future. Nanotechnologies in nano-ophthalmology are in the early stages of application in clinical contexts, including ocular drug and gene delivery systems addressing eye disorders, particularly retinopathies. Retinal diseases are challenging to treat as current interventions, such as intravitreal injections, are limited by their invasive nature. This review examines nanotechnological approaches to retinal diseases in a clinical context. Nanotechnology has the potential to transform pharmacological and surgical interventions by overcoming limitations posed by the protective anatomical and physiological barriers that limit access to the retina. Preclinical research in the application of nanoparticles in diagnostics indicates that nanoparticles can enhance existing diagnostic and screening tools to detect diseases earlier and more easily and improve disease progression monitoring precision.

Keywords: drug delivery; gene therapy; nanomaterials; retina.

Figure 1.

Nanomaterials by category. Most of the nanomaterials that have been studied for retinal disease applications are either made of amphiphilic molecules, metals, or polymers. The small chemical compound polymers with studied applications in drug and gene delivery were further classified.

Figure 2.

Nanomaterials by application. Nanomaterials have been assessed for their diagnostic, therapeutic, and surgical use in the retina.

Figure 3.

Nanomaterials for use in gene therapy and drug delivery. The three-dimensional structures of nanomaterials examined for use in retinal gene therapy and/or drug delivery are shown. Not shown but discussed in the review are emerging nanoparticles for retinal applications which include nanodiscs and nanorods for diagnostics and nanopropellers for surgical interventions.