Therapeutic applications of colloidal drug carriers.

Colloidal drug carriers such as liposomes and nanoparticles can be used to improve the therapeutic index of both established and new drugs by modifying their distribution, and thus increasing their efficacy and/or reducing their toxicity. This is because the drug distribution then follows that of the carrier, rather than depending on the physicochemical properties of the drug itself. If these delivery systems are carefully designed with respect to the target and the route of administration, they may provide one solution to some of the delivery problems posed by new classes of active molecules, such as peptides and proteins, genes and oligonucleotides. They may also offer alternative modes for more conventional drugs, such as highly hydrophobic small molecules. This review discusses the use of colloidal, particulate carrier systems (25 nm to 1 µm in diameter) in such applications.