Nanobiotechnology: An Efficient Approach to Drug Delivery of Unstable Biomolecules

A.C.      Amaral; M.S.S.      Felipe

doi:10.2174/1389203711209070632

Abstract

Biotechnology and nanotechnology are fields of science that can be applied together to solve a variety of biological issues. In the case of human health, biotechnology attempts to improve advances on the therapy against several diseases. Therapeutic peptides and proteins are promissory molecules for developing new medicines. Gene transfection and RNA interference have been considered important approaches for modern therapy to treat cancer and viral infections. However, because of their instability, these molecules alone cannot be used for in vivo application, since they are easily degraded or presenting a poor efficiency. Nanotechnology can contribute by the development of nanostructured delivery systems to increase the stability and potency of these molecules. Studies involving polymeric and magnetic nanoparticles, dendrimers, and carbon nanotubes have demonstrated a possibility to use these systems as vectors instead of the conventional viral ones, which present adverse effects, such as recombination and immunogenicity. This review presents some possibilities and strategies to efficiently delivery peptides, proteins, gene and RNA interference using nanotechnology approach.

Keywords: Dendrimers, gene transfection, magnetic nanoparticles, nanobiotechnology, polymeric nanoparticles, peptides, proteins, RNA interference.