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Abstract: Recently, breast cancer has reached the highest incident rate amongst all the reported cancers, and one of its variants, known as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), is deadlier compared to the other types of breast cancer due to a lack of feasible diagnostic techniques. Advancements in nanotechnology have paved the way to formulate several nanocarriers with the ability to deliver anticancer drugs effectively and selectively to cancer cells with minimum side effects to non-cancerous cells. Nanotheranostics is a novel approach that can be used in the diagnosis of disease along with therapeutic effects. Currently, various imaging agents, such as organic dyes, radioactive agents, upconversion nanoparticles, various contrasting agents, quantum dots, etc., are being explored for the imaging of internal organs or to examine drug distribution. Furthermore, ligand-targeted nanocarriers, which have the potential to target cancer sites, are being used as advanced agents for cancer theranostic applications, including the identification of various metastatic sites of the cancerous tumor. This review article discusses the need for theranostic application in breast cancer with various imaging techniques, the latest nanotheranostic carriers in breast cancer, and related safety and toxicity issues, as well as highlights the importance of nanotheranostics in breast cancer, which could be helpful in deciphering questions related to nanotheranostic systems.

Infectious diseases are prevalent and have contributed to high morbidity rates by creating havoc like the COVID-19, 1918 influenza and Black Death (the plague) pandemics. Antimicrobial resistance, adverse effects, the emergence of co-infections and the high cost of antimicrobial therapies are major threats to the health of people worldwide while impacting overall healthcare and socioeconomic development. One of the most common ways to address this issue lies in improving existing antimicrobial drug-delivery systems. Nanoemulsions and their modified forms have been successfully employed for the delivery of antimicrobials to treat infectious diseases. In this article, the authors comprehensively reviewed how nanoemulsion-based formulation systems are shifting the paradigm for therapeutics and diagnosis of infectious diseases.

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in women and the major cause of worldwide cancer-related deaths among women. Various treatment strategies including conventional chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, gene silencing and deliberately engineered nanomaterials for receptor mediated targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, antibodies, and small-molecule inhibitors, etc are being investigated by scientists to combat breast cancer. Smartly designed/fabricated nanomaterials are being explored to target breast cancer through enhanced permeation and retention effect; and also, being conjugated with suitable ligand for receptor-mediated endocytosis to target breast cancer for diagnostic, and theranostic applications. These receptor-targeted nanomedicines have shown efficacy to target specific tumor tissue/cells abstaining the healthy tissues/cells from cytotoxic effect of anticancer drug molecules. In the last few decades, theranostic nanomedicines have gained much attention among other nanoparticle systems due to their unique ability to deliver chemotherapeutic as well as diagnostic agents, simultaneously. Theranostic nanomaterials are emerging as novel paradigm with ability for concurrent delivery of imaging (with contrasting agents), targeting (with biomarkers), and anticancer therapeutics with one delivery system (as cancer theranostics) and can transpire as promising strategy to overcome various hurdles for effective management of breast cancer including its most aggressive form, triple-negative breast cancer.

Arsenic, a metalloid, is known to cause deleterious effects in various body organs, particularly the liver, urinary bladder, and brain, and these effects are primarily mediated through oxidative stress. Chelation therapy has been considered one of the promising medical treatments for arsenic poisoning. Meso 2,3- dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) has been recognized as one of the most effective chelating drugs to treat arsenic poisoning. However, the drug is compromised with a number of shortcomings, including the inability to treat chronic arsenic poisoning due to its extracellular distribution. Monoisoamyl 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid, one of the analogues of meso 2,3-dimeraptosuccinic acid (DMSA), is a lipophilic chelator and has shown promise to be considered as a potential future chelating agent/antidote not only for arsenic but also for a few other heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and gallium arsenide. The results from numerous studies carried out in the recent past, mainly from our group, strongly support the clinical application of MiADMSA. This review paper summarizes most of the scientific details including the chemistry, pharmacology, and safety profile of MiADMSA. The efficacy of MiADMSA mainly against arsenic toxicity but also a few other heavy metals was also discussed. We also reviewed a few other strategies in order to achieve the optimum effects of MiADMSA, like combination therapy using two chelating agents or coadministration of a natural and synthetic antioxidant (including phytomedicine) along with MiADMSA for treatment of metal/metalloid poisoning. We also briefly discussed the use of nanotechnology (nano form of MiADMSA i.e. nano-MiADMSA) and compared it with bulk MiADMSA. All these strategies have been shown to be beneficial in getting more pronounced therapeutic efficacy of MiADMSA, as an adjuvant or as a complementary agent, by significantly increasing the chelating efficacy of MiADMSA.

Japanese encephalitis (JE), a clinical indication of JE virus-induced brain inflammation, is the most prevalent cause of viral encephalitis in the world. This review gives a comprehensive update on the epidemiology, clinical features, therapeutic trials and approaches for preventing the spread of JE. It also outlines the different JE vaccines used in various countries and recommendations for administration of JE vaccines.According to the WHO, annual incidence of JE is estimated to be approximately 68,000 cases worldwide. It is widespread across Asia-Pacific, with a potential for worldwide transmission. In endemic locations, JE is believed to affect children below 6 years of age, but in newly affected areas, both adults and children are at risk due to a lack of protective antibodies. Various vaccines have been developed for the prevention of JE and are being administered in endemic countries.JE is a neuroinvasive disease that causes symptoms ranging from simple fever to severe encephalitis and death. Despite a vast number of clinical trials on various drugs, there is still no complete cure available, and it can only be prevented by adequate vaccination. Various nanotechnological approaches for the prevention and treatment of JE are outlined in this review.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11908-022-00786-1.

Nanoemulgel is an emanating drug delivery system particularly being explored in research and development of various topical formulations for both pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications. Nanoemulgel consists of emulsion, which can be water in oil or oil in water type, incorporated into gel base. The gel base is prepared using gelling agent which modifies emulsion into non-greasy, more stable, and viscous formulation. Incorporation of hydrophobic drugs in a topical gel formulation along with favorable patient compliance is not feasible, but nanoemulgel form of the same drug does that efficiently. Rationalized formulation development of nanoemulgel for various drugs could solve various problems related to drug solubility, stability and drug release associated with other topical formulations.

The accumulation of amyloid-beta at the neuronal sites is a major pathological hallmark involved in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease. To reduce the Aβ-induced neuronal cytotoxicity, selenium nanoparticles and silymarin were fabricated in a single polysaccharide matrix for dual antioxidant and Aβ fibril disaggregation activity. These nanoparticles were further stabilized by an exopolysaccharide xanthan gum. The nanoparticles were fabricated to reduce the amyloid-induced cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells. A three-step method employing redox reaction of sodium selenite and ascorbic acid has been adopted for the synthesis of selenium nanoparticles. Consequently, xanthan gum powder was added to impart stability to the nanocarriers. The nanoparticles exhibited a particle size of 119.2 ± 2.8 nm, zeta potential of - 35.4 ± 3.8 mV, and % EE of 87.7 ± 2.23. HR-TEM with EDX analysis confirmed the presence of spherical nanoparticles. An in vitro drug release study exhibited 89.33 ± 5.4% release of silymarin from nanocarriers and was able to scavenge 90% free radicals of DPPH reagent. The thioflavin T (ThT) fibrillation kinetics study showed that the nanoparticles elicited maximum disaggregation of Aβ fibrils that was depicted by the quenched fluorescence intensity signal. The cell viability results revealed that the highest neuroprotection activity was observed in the cell group treated with SLY-XG-Se against Aβ

Breast cancer therapeutic intervention continues to be ambiguous owing to the lack of strategies for targeted transport and receptor-mediated uptake of drugs by cancer cells. In addition to this, sporadic tumor microenvironment, prominent restrictions with conventional chemotherapy, and multidrug-resistant mechanisms of breast cancer cells possess a big challenge to even otherwise optimal and efficacious breast cancer treatment strategies. Surface-modified nanomedicines can expedite the cellular uptake and delivery of drug-loaded nanoparticulate constructs through binding with specific receptors overexpressed aberrantly on the tumor cell. The present review elucidates the interesting yet challenging concept of targeted delivery approaches by exploiting different types of nanoparticulate systems with multiple targeting ligands to target overexpressed receptors of breast cancer cells. The therapeutic efficacy of these novel approaches in preclinical models is also comprehensively discussed in this review. It is concluded from critical analysis of related literature that insight into the translational gap between laboratories and clinical settings would provide the possible future directions to plug the loopholes in the process of development of these receptor-targeted nanomedicines for the treatment of breast cancer.

Most of the active pharmaceutical ingredient used in the management of disease have poor water solubility and offer grueling problems in drug formulation development since low solubility is generally associated with poor dissolution characteristics which leads to poor oral bioavailability. The great challenge for the development of a pharmaceutical product is to create its new formulation and drug delivery system to limit solubility problems of existing drug candidate. Limited drug-loading capacity requires a large amount of carrier material to get appropriate encapsulation of the drug, which is another major challenge in the development of pharmaceutical product which could be resolved by developing nanocrystals (NCs). A significant research in the past few years has been done to develop NCs which helps in the delivery of poorly water soluble drugs via different routes. The technology could continue to thrive as a useful tool in pharmaceutical sciences for the improvement of drug solubility, absorption and bioavailability. Many crystalline compounds have pulled in incredible consideration much of the time, due to their ability to show good physical and chemical properties when contrasted with their amorphous counterparts. Nanocrystals have been proven to show atypical properties compared to the bulk. This review article explores the principles of the important nanocrystallization techniques including NCs characterization and its application.

Background: Personalized medicines are becoming more popular as they enable the use of patient’s genomics and hence help in better drug design with fewer side effects. In fact, several doses can be combined into one dosage form which suits the patient’s demography. 3 Dimensional (3D) printing technology for personalized medicine is a modern day treatment method based on genomics of patient. Methods: 3D printing technology uses digitally controlled devices for formulating API and excipients in a layer by layer pattern for developing a suitable personalized drug delivery system as per the need of patient. It includes various techniques like inkjet printing, fused deposition modelling which can further be classified into continuous inkjet system and drop on demand. In order to formulate such dosage forms, scientists have used various polymers to enhance their acceptance as well as therapeutic efficacy. Polymers like polyvinyl alcohol, poly (lactic acid) (PLA), poly (caprolactone) (PCL) etc can be used during manufacturing. Results: Varying number of dosage forms can be produced using 3D printing technology including immediate release tablets, pulsatile release tablets, and transdermal dosage forms etc. The 3D printing technology can be explored successfully to develop personalized medicines which could play a vital role in the treatment of lifethreatening diseases. Particularly, for patients taking multiple medicines, 3D printing method could be explored to design a single dosage in which various drugs can be incorporated. Further 3D printing based personalized drug delivery system could also be investigated in chemotherapy of cancer patients with the added advantage of the reduction in adverse effects. Conclusion: In this article, we have reviewed 3D printing technology and its uses in personalized medicine. Further, we also discussed the different techniques and materials used in drug delivery based on 3D printing along with various applications of the technology.

Introduction: Nanomaterials are emerging as a fascinating delivery systems being explored for the delivery of different bioactives including drug, diagnostic agents and genetic materials etc. Among these nanomaterials dendrimers and Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are being investigated for various biomedical applications. Although both of these nanomaterials have shown great potential in drug delivery yet their promising clinical applications are still suspected due to problems like toxicity, dispersibility etc. Scientists have been investigating the potential of nanohybrids comprising of dendrimers and nanotubes for biomedical applications. Few reports are also available on the toxicological profile of CNTs and dendrimers nanohybrids. Conclusion: The results of these investigations suggest two possibilities, first, hybrids of CNTs and dendrimers could suppress each other’s demerits while synergizing the potentials; second, prospective toxicity of nanohybrids on which different reports have discrimination in results. Future biomedical applications of CNTs-dendrimers nanohybrids require a thorough investigation on their toxicity and biological interactions.

Treating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) still remains a problem for the researchers. Existence of specific anatomical barriers, especially the blood brain barrier (BBB), restricts the brain mobility and hinders the effectiveness of different drug therapies. Rapid nanotechnological developments have given promising solutions to this challenge. Therefore, during the last few decades, a variety of nanocarriers have been designed to deliver drugs to the brain. Dendrimers are highly branched, three-dimensional macromolecules with tailor-made surface functionality and internal cavities that make them interesting carrier to deliver the drug to the brain. Significant advances have been made in dendrimer-mediated targeted delivery to the brain in last two decades. This review article deals majorly with recent advances in dendrimer-mediated delivery to the brain with discussions on the mechanisms of biodistribution and toxicity of dendrimer crossing the BBB. This will assist researchers in designing the new strategies to deal with major challenges related to the targeted delivery of CNS therapeutic agents to the brain.

Clean and safe water is a fundamental human need for multi-faceted development of society and a thriving economy. Brisk rises in populations, expanding industrialization, urbanization and extensive agriculture practices have resulted in the generation of wastewater which have not only made the water dirty or polluted, but also deadly. Millions of people die every year due to diseases communicated through consumption of water contaminated by deleterious pathogens. Although various methods for wastewater treatment have been explored in the last few decades but their use is restrained by many limitations including use of chemicals, formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), time consumption and expensiveness. Nanotechnology, manipulation of matter at a molecular or an atomic level to craft new structures, devices and systems having superior electronic, optical, magnetic, conductive and mechanical properties, is emerging as a promising technology, which has demonstrated remarkable feats in various fields including wastewater treatment. Nanomaterials encompass a high surface to volume ratio, a high sensitivity and reactivity, a high adsorption capacity, and ease of functionalization which makes them suitable for application in wastewater treatment. In this article we have reviewed the techniques being developed for wastewater treatment using nanotechnology based on adsorption and biosorption, nanofiltration, photocatalysis, disinfection and sensing technology. Furthermore, this review also highlights the fate of the nanomaterials in wastewater treatment as well as risks associated with their use.

Molecular modelling is a fast-growing field and has been driven by significant developments in computer hardware and software in recent years. Dendrimers are hyper-branched macromolecules with well-defined geometry and high surface functionality. Dendrimers’ architecture enables control over properties such as size, shape, density, solubility, polarity, reactivity, etc. Such special features can be used to design molecules with the desired properties used for biomedical applications. The precise, quantified core–shell architectural properties and monomer shell filling characteristics of dendrimers are compared to the electron shell filling patterns of elemental atoms using the Niels Bohr periodic table. This distinction offered a basis for understanding the patterns of self-reactivity found at sub-nanoscale (atoms), lower nanoscale (dendrimers) and higher nanoscale rates involving either unsaturated electron shells, monomer shells or dendrimer shells. This chapter provides a detailed overview of macromolecular and molecular modelling of dendrimers.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is gaining numerous advances in manufacturing approaches both at macro- and nanoscales. Three-dimensional printing is being explored for various biomedical applications and fabrication of nanomedicines using additive manufacturing techniques, and shows promising potential in fulfilling the need for patient-centric personalized treatment. Initial reports attributed this to availability of novel natural biomaterials and precisely engineered polymeric materials, which could be fabricated into exclusive 3D printed nanomaterials for various biomedical applications as nanomedicines. Nanomedicine is defined as the application of nanotechnology in designing nanomaterials for different medicinal applications, including diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, prevention, and control of diseases. Nanomedicine is also showing great impact in the design and development of precision medicine. In contrast to the “one-size-fits-all” criterion of the conventional medicine system, personalized or precision medicines consider the differences in various traits, including pharmacokinetics and genetics of different patients, which have shown improved results over conventional treatment. In the last few years, much literature has been published on the application of 3D printing for the fabrication of nanomedicine. This article deals with progress made in the development and design of tailor-made nanomedicine using 3D printing technology.

Instead of enormous development in biomedical field, the treatment of severe ailments like tuberculosis, visceral leishmaniasis, systemic fungal infections, HIV and cancer still faces noteworthy confronts like severe toxicities, resistance and patient non-compliance, etc. To overcome these problems interpenetrating polymeric nanomaterials like liposomes, nanoparticles, dendrimers, carbon nanotubes and quantum dots are continuously being explored to improve therapeutic index of available medicine as well as new drug entity. This review exhaustively summarizes the dendrimer-mediated advancements in the drug delivery as well as possible avenues where dendrimers could be exploited to improve the therapeutic effectiveness of currently available treatment strategies. Dendrimers are a new class of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) with unique properties like well-defined size and structure, versatility, water solubility, multivalency and internal hydrophobic cavities, which rendered these nanostructures an emerging carrier in biomedical and drug delivery applications. Classically, these well-defined nano-architectures have been explored as nanoscaffolds and nano-containers to conjugate and deliver drugs, genes, oligonucleopeptides, imaging agents, siRNA, aptamers, etc. In spite of tremendous research efforts over nearly three decades, the stakeholders are confronted with certain fundamental issues related to dendrimer applications. In this review, we propose to dwell upon the unexplored facets of dendrimer research with possible applications in drug delivery.

Nutraceuticals can be defined as the food or part of food that can be used for the medicinal and healthcare systems. They consist of edible food items that are good for human use and include natural products from plants and animals, vitamins, antioxidants, and flavonoids. The incidence of adverse drug reactions with the use of nutraceuticals is rare but sometimes poor quality ingredients might be used in the manufacturing of nutraceuticals, which is a downside of nutraceutical use. This chapter defines the role of nutraceuticals in the healthcare system, with specialization in respiratory tract disorders such as COPD, asthma, and cough. Current research in the field of nutraceuticals for respiratory diseases is also discussed in this review. It includes current nutraceutical products and the plants that may be used for respiratory disorders. Nutraceuticals are regulated by specific acts and rules that vary from country to country, for example, in India, nutraceuticals are regulated by the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, whereas in the United States watershed legislation from 1994 regulates the manufacturing and marketing of nutraceuticals.

In the present investigation we explore the ex vivo and in vivo cancer targeting potential of Doxorubicin laden oxidized dextran conjugated PEG-multi walled carbon nanotubes (DOX/ox-DEX/PEG-MWCNTs) using MCF-7 cells. The percent entrapment efficiency was found to be 97.00 ± 2.10% (DOX/ox-DEX/PEG-MWCNTs) and 92.00± 3.00% (DOX/MWCNTs). The DOX/ox-DEX/PEG-MWCNTs depicted enhanced cellular uptake and cytotoxicity. The obtained results also showed the extended residence time of DOX/ox-DEX/PEG-MWCNTs as compared to DOX/MWCNTs and free DOX. Overall, we can conclude that the developed Doxorubicin loaded functionalized MWCNTs could be explored successfully for cancer targeting propensity.

Bedaquiline fumarate (BDQN) is approved in year 2012 to treat multidrug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) through accelerated approval pathway by FDA. It belongs to class II of biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) and shows poor aqueous solubility and dissolution rate which eventually leads to compromised bioavailability. In the present study, BDQN loaded binary solid dispersion (BSD) and ternary solid dispersion (TSD) were prepared with the aid of solvent evaporation technique wherein poloxamer 188 and tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) were used as dispersing matrix. The prepared BSD and TSD were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), hot stage microscopy (HSM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and evaluated for enhancement in saturation solubility, in vitro dissolution performance, and permeability through rat intestine. BSD and TSD showed 5.68-fold and 7.46-fold increment in saturation solubility respectively. In vitro dissolution data showed about 99.98 ± 1.48% BDQN release from BSD within 15 min (t15 min, %) and, 98.68 ± 1.98% release from TSD within 30 min (t30 min, %) which were significantly higher than that of BDQN plain drug and their respective physical mixtures at respective time points. However, BSD was unable to sustain the parachute effect of BDQN in dissolution medium and showed decreased concentrations whereas TSD maintained the same throughout experimental period. Permeability of BDQN from BSD and TSD was found to be 1.86-fold and 3.53-fold, respectively, when compared to BDQN plain drug. TSD was found to be stable at accelerated condition for the period of 3 months when evaluated by PXRD, FTIR, DSC and in vitro dissolution study. We may conclude from this study that solid dispersions of BDQN can be accepted as promising alternative formulation approach to enhance biopharmaceutical performance of BDQN in terms of solubility, dissolution rate and permeability for treatment of tuberculosis and may benefit the patients with MDR-TB for the emergency treatment with BDQN, which could ultimately lead to increase in bioavailability and reduced cost of final product.

Mucoadhesion, the state in which two materials, amongst which one is biological in nature, adhere to each other for extended periods of time with the help of interfacial forces, provides an attractive strategy to overcome the hurdles of conventional drug delivery systems including first pass metabolism, and localized delivery of biomolecules including proteins, peptides and oligonucleotides. Mucoadhesion provides great opportunities for the delivery of a variety of compounds via different routes of administration viz. ocular, nasal, vaginal and buccal. In addition mucoadhesion also makes it possible to obtain prolonged, local or systemic drug action. In this review we discussed about potential applications of mucoadhesion and mucoadhesive polymers in drug delivery along with the mechanism of mucoadhesion and the methods for evaluation of mucoadhesive drug delivery systems.