Nanocarriers for Treatment of Ocular Neovascularization in the Back of the Eye: New Vehicles for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery

Abstract

Pathologic neovascularization of the retina is a major cause of substantial and irreversible loss of vision. Drugs are difficult to deliver to the lesions in the back of the eye and this is a major obstacle for the therapeutics. Current pharmacological approach involves an intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agents to prevent aberrant growth of blood vessels, but it has limitations including therapeutic efficacy and side-effects associated with systemic exposure and invasive surgery. Nanotechnology provides novel opportunities to overcome the limitations of conventional delivery system to reach the back of the eye through fabrication of nanostructures capable of encapsulating and delivering small molecules. This review article introduces various forms of nanocarrier that can be adopted by ocular drug delivery systems to improve current therapy. The application of nanotechnology in medicine brings new hope for ocular drug delivery in the back of the eye to manage the major causes of blindness associated with ocular neovascularization.

Keywords::

• drug delivery
• eye
• nanocarriers
• ocular neovascularization

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC #1061912), the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia (ORIA) and the Angior Family Foundation. H-H Shen receives a Super Science Fellowship from ARC and GJ Dusting receives a Principal Research Fellowship from NHMRC. The Centre for Eye Research Australia receives operational infrastructure support from the Victorian government. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC #1061912), the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia (ORIA) and the Angior Family Foundation. H-H Shen receives a Super Science Fellowship from ARC and GJ Dusting receives a Principal Research Fellowship from NHMRC. The Centre for Eye Research Australia receives operational infrastructure support from the Victorian government. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.