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Review
. 2022 Jun;17(6):1190-1198.
doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.327328.

Liposome based drug delivery as a potential treatment option for Alzheimer's disease

Carely Hernandez  1 , Surabhi Shukla  1
Affiliations
Review

Liposome based drug delivery as a potential treatment option for Alzheimer's disease

Carely Hernandez et al. Neural Regen Res. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition leading to atrophy of the brain and robbing nearly 5.8 million individuals in the United States age 65 and older of their cognitive functions. Alzheimer's disease is associated with dementia and a progressive decline in memory, thinking, and social skills, eventually leading to a point that the individual can no longer perform daily activities independently. Currently available drugs on the market temporarily alleviate the symptoms, however, they are not successful in slowing down the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Treatment and cures have been constricted due to the difficulty of drug delivery to the blood-brain barrier. Several studies have led to identification of vesicles to transport the necessary drugs through the blood-brain barrier that would typically not achieve the targeted area through systemic delivered medications. Recently, liposomes have emerged as a viable drug delivery agent to transport drugs that are not able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Liposomes are being used as a component of nanoparticle drug delivery; due to their biocompatible nature; and possessing the capability to carry both lipophilic and hydrophilic therapeutic agents across the blood brain barrier into the brain cells. Studies indicate the importance of liposomal based drug delivery in treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. The idea is to encapsulate the drugs inside the properly engineered liposome to generate a response of treatment. Liposomes are engineered to target specific diseased moieties and also several surface modifications of liposomes are under research to create a clinical path to the management of Alzheimer's disease. This review deals with Alzheimer's disease and emphasize on challenges associated with drug delivery to the brain, and how liposomal drug delivery can play an important role as a drug delivery method for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This review also sheds some light on variation of liposomes. Additionally, it emphasizes on the liposomal formulations which are currently researched or used for treatment of Alzheimer's disease and also discusses the future prospect of liposomal based drug delivery in Alzheimer's disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; PEGylation; beta-amyloid; blood-brain barrier; brain delivery; drug delivery systems; encapsulated drugs; liposomes; nanoparticles; neurodegenerative diseases; targeted delivery; tau.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Basic structure of liposome and structural modification of liposomes for infiltration to brain. Ligand-targeted liposome: Ligand like antibody or peptides are bound on to surface of liposome directly or through polyethylene glycol chain to improve the delivery of drug to the brain by targeting the endothelial receptor at the brain leading to transcytosis. Cationic liposomes: Positively charged liposomes causing electrostatic interface between polyanions of the blood-brain barrier and positive charge on liposomes thereby facilitating absorbent facilitated endocytosis. Theranostic Liposomes: Multifunctional liposomes with ability to carry drugs as well as noninvasive contrast agents for diagnosis useful as drug delivery system and an existing disease monitoring tool.
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