From Nanowerk News:

25 years have passed since the publication of the first work on solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) as a system for delivering drugs. So the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics (“Applications of lipid nanoparticles in gene therapy”) has prepared a special edition for which it asked the PharmaNanoGene group of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country to produce a piece of work reviewing the application of SLNs and NLCs in gene therapy since the group’s significant contributions made in this area have been included in various international scientific publications.

Lipid nanoparticles (SLNs and NLCs) are regarded as highly promising systems for delivering nucleic acids in gene therapy. Until now, viral systems have been the most effective method for delivering genetic matter but they pose significant safety problems. “Non-viral vectors, including SLNs and NLCs, are less effective but much safer even though their effectiveness has increased significantly in recent years”, pointed out Alicia Rodríguez, María Ángeles Solinís and Ana del Pozo, authors of the article published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.

This review article describes these systems and their main advantages in gene therapy, such as their capacity to protect the gene material against degradation, to facilitate cell and nucleus internalisation and to boost the transfection process. “What is more, the nanoparticles are made up of biocompatible, biodegradable materials, they are easy to produce on a large scale, they can be sterilised and freeze-dried and are very stable both in biological fluids and in storage,” explained the researchers.

 

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Image Credit:    University of the Basque Country

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