Advancing the Therapeutic Efficacy of Bioactive Molecules by Delivery Vehicle Platforms

Drugs have to overcome numerous barriers to reach their desired therapeutic targets. In several cases, drugs, especially the highly lipophilic molecules, suffer from low solubility and bioavailability and therefore their desired targeting is hampered. In addition, undesired metabolic products might be produced or off-targets could be recognized. Along these lines, nanopharmacology has provided new technological platforms, to overcome these boundaries. Specifically, numerous vehicle platforms such as cyclodextrins and calixarenes have been widely utilized to host lipophilic drugs such as antagonists of the angiotensin II AT1 receptor (AT1R), as well as quercetin and silibinin. The encapsulation of these drugs in supramolecules or other systems refines their solubility and metabolic stability, increases their selectivity and therefore decreases their effective dose and improves their therapeutic index. In this mini review we report on the formulations of silibinin and AT1R antagonist candesartan in a 2-HP-beta -cyclodextrin host molecule, which displayed enhanced cytotoxicity and increased silibinin's and candesartan's stability, respectively. Moreover, we describe the encapsulation of quercetin in gold nanoparticles bearing a calixarene supramolecular host. Also, the encapsulation of temozolomide in a calixarene nanocapsule has been described. Finally, we report on the activity enhancement that has been achieved upon using these formulations as well as the analytical and computational methods we used to characterize these formulations and explore the molecular interactions between the host and quest molecules.

Automated summary

Drugs face barriers such as low solubility and bioavailability, undesired metabolic products, and off-target effects when reaching therapeutic targets. Nanopharmacology offers new technological platforms like cyclodextrins and calixarenes to overcome these limitations. Encapsulation in supramolecules or other systems enhances drug solubility, stability, selectivity, and lowers effective dose, improving therapeutic outcomes. Studies on formulations using these platforms show enhanced activity and stability, utilizing analytical and computational methods to characterize molecular interactions.