RNA – A choice of potential drug delivery system

Abstract

There is significant progress in biomedical sciences to use biomaterials as a potential medium for the delivery of pharmacologically active components to diseased cells. This multidisciplinary approach has established that the therapeutic benefit is not directly proportional to the potency of drugs. It is more related to the mode of drug formulations and routes of administration. Biomaterials play a vital role in the formulations of a wide range of pharmaceutical compounds, including antibodies, peptides, drugs, enzymes, and vaccines. Most of these materials have been engineered to release therapeutics for an extended period to overcome the limitations of conventional therapies. This review has initially discussed a brief history of different biomaterials in drug delivery and the clinical needs of the same. The latter part describes the strategies to use RNA as a therapeutic molecule to stop the synthesis of disease-causing proteins that are generated by the misregulations.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Biomaterials
• controlled release
• drug delivery system
• nanoformulation
• RNA

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge CARE for infrastructural and financial support. KH, PP, and PG acknowledge CARE for fellowships.

Authors’ contributions

GP and AG have outlined and wrote the manuscript, KH and PG edited and incorporated additional points, PP drew the images, and KG enriched all the sections. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).