Liposomal Nanomedicine: Applications for Drug Delivery and Cancer Therapy
A special issue of Journal of Functional Biomaterials (ISSN 2079-4983). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials for Drug Delivery".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2024 | Viewed by 2732
Special Issue Editors
Interests: organic synthesis; amino acids; surfactants; self-aggregation; drug/gene delivery
Interests: organic synthesis; amino acid-based surfactants; surfactant self-assembly; drug/gene delivery; anti-infective agents; biophysics and drug-membrane interaction studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: physical chemistry; amino acid-based surfactants; surfactant self-assembly; soft materials drug/gene delivery and biophysics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Nanomedicine, the application of nanotechnology for medical purposes, makes use of nanomaterials for the detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Amongst the nanoparticles used to accomplish these goals, liposomes stand as a promising alternative. Since their discovery, liposomes have been extensively studied as delivery systems for drugs and other bioactive molecules (e.g., peptides, nucleic acids) and have revolutionized the way many medical disorders were treated. Liposomes circumvent some drawbacks associated with the administration of the naked drugs, usually presenting improved bioavailability and biocompatibility. In addition, due to their specific structure, liposomes are capable of encapsulating both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, protecting them from enzymatic degradation and reducing their toxicity. Furthermore, modification of the liposomes' surface may endeavor targeting to specific tissues, making them powerful tools in cancer prognosis and therapy. Cancer still represents one of the main causes of mortality in the world. In most cases the treatment involves, at some stage, the use of chemotherapeutics, which do not discriminate between healthy and malignant cells, causing severe adverse effects on normal cells and tissues. The use of liposomes for targeted cancer therapy represents a promising alternative, although many aspects have still to be addressed. In fact, despite intense research in this field, most liposomes suffer from poor colloidal and chemical stability, rapid clearance from the bloodstream, uncontrolled release of the entrapped drugs, etc. More recently, the use of liposomes as nanoplatforms for the delivery of RNA for cancer therapy has been reported and, albeit in its infancy, encouraging results have been obtained.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. We invite manuscripts exploring the role of liposomes as drug delivery platforms and in cancer therapy. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Synthesis and characterization of novel liposome-forming materials;
- Use of liposomes in drug/nucleic acid delivery;
- Liposomal nanomedicines for enhanced targeting;
- Smart liposomes for cancer therapy.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Maria Luisa Vale
Dr. Sandra Silva
Dr. Isabel S. Oliveira
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Functional Biomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- drug delivery
- gene delivery
- liposomes
- cancer therapy
- self-aggregation
- physicochemical properties
- synthesis
