Advances in encapsulating gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists for controlled release: a review

Abstract

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are peptides consisting of nine or ten amino acid residues. GnRH agonists have been applied in the therapy of sexual hormone disorders like prostate cancer, endometriosis, uterine myoma, central precious puberty, and in-vitro fertility. Treatment is achieved by continuous hormone intake and long-term agonists administration, which is usually associated with poor patient compliance. Because GnRH agonists that are administered with the parenteral route are broken down by peptidase, their half-life is short. As a result, developing sustained release for the drug delivery system is significant. Even though some drugs have been successfully delivered with long-acting release microspheres and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some challenges remain. This review highlighted current approaches to encapsulate GnRH agonists into delivery systems and strategies encountered during the loading process. Moreover, the following sections provide strategies to improve the release profile, and animal and human studies were summarised.

Keywords:

• Microspheres
• encapsulation efficiency
• GnRH agonist
• controlled release
• release studies

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Technology Program (2017ZX09201004013).