Small but powerful: will nanoparticles be the future state‐of‐the‐art therapy for IBD?

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract particularly affecting the colon and the ileum. IBD patients can have a very poor quality of life because of the limited therapeutic efficacy and accompanied adverse effects.

Areas covered

The potential ways to employ nanoparticles to deliver drugs to a certain site of inflammation are discussed. The focus was set on the microenvironment in the gut as well as the mucosa, epithelial layer and the microbiota. Moreover, experimental animal colitis models were nanoparticles were used as a potential treatment are presented. Lastly, challenges for the potential clinical use in humans are discussed.

Expert opinion

Although there still remain many open questions e.g. regarding the toxicity, the metabolism or the pharmacokinetics of nanoparticles further research on this topic could overcome these challenges. For example, instead of synthetically engineered particles, biodegradable components could be used. Since there have been a lot pf promising results in the recent years, we are sure that in the future nanoparticles will be developed in a way to ensure safe and targeted delivery of drugs to the site of inflammation.

KEYWORDS:

• IBD
• T cells
• nanoparticles
• nanocarrier
• colon targeting

Article highlights

• Discussion on how nanoparticles can be used to deliver drugs to a specific site of inflammation.

• Presentation of experimental colitis models in which nanoparticles have been used as a potential treatment.

• Discussion of open questions such as toxicity, metabolism and pharmacokinetics and biodegradability.

• Challenges for the potential clinical application in humans.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Prof. D. Fischer, Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Erlangen supporting the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the Collaborative Research Centers SFB1181 and TRR241 of the German Research Council (DFG), the Emerging Fields Initiative and the Ludwig Demling Center. KL, BW, MN and MFN were supported by DFG grant CRC 1181/2-B02.