Approved Nanomedicine against Diseases

Abstract

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.

Keywords: cancer; cardiovascular disease; infection; liposomes; nanocrystal; nanomedicine; polymeric nanoparticles.

Figure 1

Construction of mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 and active mechanism. (A) Composition and structure of the two mRNA vaccines. (B) Active mechanism of mRNA vaccine.

Figure 2

Mechanism action of Apretude (CAB-NCs) to inhibit the HIV-1 viral replication. After an intramuscular injection, CAB-NCs highly distribute in vaginal, cervical, and rectal tissue, where they bind to the active integrase site and inhibit the retroviral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) integration phase, which is required for the HIV replication cycle.

Figure 3

In vivo antitumor mechanism of Abraxane^®. After the intravenous infusion, Abraxane^® could highly deliver the encapsulated PTX via albumin carrier and enhance the PTX distribution in tumor tissues mediated by gp-60 and SPARC, which has been applied in the treatment of several kinds of malignant melanoma.