Recent advances in liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes as promising drug nanocarriers

Liposomes have been extensively investigated as possible carriers for diagnostic or therapeutic agents due to their unique properties. However, liposomes still have not attained their full potential as drug and gene delivery vehicles because of their insufficient morphological stability. Recently, a super-stable and freestanding hybrid liposomal cerasome (partially ceramic- or silica-coated liposome) has drawn much attention as a novel drug delivery system because its atomic layer of polyorganosiloxane surface imparts higher morphological stability than conventional liposomes and its liposomal bilayer structure reduces the overall rigidity and density greatly compared to silica nanoparticles. Cerasomes are more biocompatible than silica nanoparticles due to the incorporation of the liposomal architecture into cerasomes. Cerasomes combine the advantages of both liposomes and silica nanoparticles but overcome their disadvantages so cerasomes are ideal drug delivery systems. The present review will first highlights some of the key advances of the past decade in the technology of cerasome production and then review current biomedical applications of cerasomes, with a view to stimulating further research in this area of study. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.