Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Mar 27;13(4):454.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13040454.

Liposomal Nanosystems in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Margarida Ferreira-Silva  1 , Catarina Faria-Silva  1 , Pedro Viana Baptista  2 , Eduarda Fernandes  3 , Alexandra Ramos Fernandes  2 , Maria Luísa Corvo  1
Affiliations
Review

Liposomal Nanosystems in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Margarida Ferreira-Silva et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that affects the joints and results in reduced patient quality of life due to its chronic nature and several comorbidities. RA is also associated with a high socioeconomic burden. Currently, several available therapies minimize symptoms and prevent disease progression. However, more effective treatments are needed due to current therapies' severe side-effects, especially under long-term use. Drug delivery systems have demonstrated their clinical importance-with several nanocarriers present in the market-due to their capacity to improve therapeutic drug index, for instance, by enabling passive or active targeting. The first to achieve market authorization were liposomes that still represent a considerable part of approved delivery systems. In this manuscript, we review the role of liposomes in RA treatment, address preclinical studies and clinical trials, and discuss factors that could hamper a successful clinical translation. We also suggest some alterations that could potentially improve their progression to the market.

Keywords: active targeting; drug delivery nanosystems; liposomes; passive targeting; rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis: inflammatory cells produce proinflammatory markers (e.g., cytokines) in the inflamed synovium of joints, enhancing the production of metalloproteinases (MMPs) that cause bone erosion; increasing the oxidative stress by production of reactive oxygen or nitrogen species (ROS, RNS respectively) and recruiting more leukocytes into the joint, exacerbating the inflammation. IL—interleukin; TNF-α—tumor necrosis factor-alpha.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ulbrich W., Lamprecht A. Targeted drug-delivery approaches by nanoparticulate carriers in the therapy of inflammatory diseases. J. R. Soc. Interface. 2010;7:S55–S66. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2009.0285.focus. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Taylor P.C., Moore A., Vasilescu R., Alvir J., Tarallo M. A structured literature review of the burden of illness and unmet needs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A current perspective. Rheumatol. Int. 2016;36:685–695. doi: 10.1007/s00296-015-3415-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allen A., Carville S., McKenna F. Diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults: Summary of updated NICE guidance. BMJ. 2018;362:k3015. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k3015. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McInnes I.B., Schett G. Pathogenetic insights from the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Lancet. 2017;389:2328–2337. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31472-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Crielaard B.J., Lammers T., Schiffelers R.M., Storm G. Drug targeting systems for inflammatory disease: One for all, all for one. J. Control. Release. 2012;161:225–234. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2011.12.014. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources