Responsive nanosystems for targeted therapy of ulcerative colitis: Current practices and future perspectives

Abstract

The pharmacological approach to treating gastrointestinal diseases is suffering from various challenges. Among such gastrointestinal diseases, ulcerative colitis manifests inflammation at the colon site specifically. Patients suffering from ulcerative colitis notably exhibit thin mucus layers that offer increased permeability for the attacking pathogens. In the majority of ulcerative colitis patients, the conventional treatment options fail in controlling the symptoms of the disease leading to distressing effects on the quality of life. Such a scenario is due to the failure of conventional therapies to target the loaded moiety into specific diseased sites in the colon. Targeted carriers are needed to address this issue and enhance the drug effects. Conventional nanocarriers are mostly readily cleared and have nonspecific targeting. To accumulate the desired concentration of the therapeutic candidates at the inflamed area of the colon, smart nanomaterials with responsive nature have been explored recently that include pH responsive, reactive oxygen species responsive (ROS), enzyme responsive and thermo – responsive smart nanocarrier systems. The formulation of such responsive smart nanocarriers from nanotechnology scaffolds has resulted in the selective release of therapeutic drugs, avoiding systemic absorption and limiting the undesired delivery of targeting drugs into healthy tissues. Recent advancements in the field of responsive nanocarrier systems have resulted in the fabrication of multi-responsive systems i.e. dual responsive nanocarriers and derivitization that has increased the biological tissues and smart nanocarrier’s interaction. In addition, it has also led to efficient targeting and significant cellular uptake of the therapeutic moieties. Herein, we have highlighted the latest status of the responsive nanocarrier drug delivery system, its applications for on–demand delivery of drug candidates for ulcerative colitis, and the prospects are underpinned.

Keywords:

• Ulcerative colitis
• non – targeted therapy
• smart nanocarriers
• responsive system

Authors’ contributions

Min Chen: writing initial draft and revision of the manuscript; Huanrong Lan: initial draft and revised the manuscript; Ketao Jin: Conception and design of the study; Yun Chen: revision and finalization of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Projects (grants no. LGF22H160017 to MC, LGD19H160001 to KTJ, and LGF22H160046 to HRL), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82104445 to HRL), and Jinhua Municipal Science and Technology Projects (grants no.2021-3-040 to KTJ, and 2021-3-046 to HRL).