Trends in Biotechnology
Research FocusDelivering the vaccination mail
Section snippets
The biological paradigm
One of the most significant challenges in the field of drug delivery is connected to a widespread biological barrier. Biomolecular therapeutics that function inside the cell, and protein antigens that enter the MHC class 1 pathway in the cytoplasm, must cross membrane barriers at the cell membrane and/or the endosomal or lysosomal compartment level (Figure 1). For intracellular drugs using plasmid DNA, antisense oligonucleotides, RNA and proteins, efficiency is generally dependent on the
Synthetic drug-delivery systems
In the vaccine-development field, controlled-release systems represent the second wave of delivery strategies to hit the clinic (after direct-injection approaches). The biodegradable polymeric microencapsulation technology for timed protein-release was pioneered by Langer and co-workers [4], and the general approach has now been extended to several different polymer compositions and microparticle-processing techniques [4]. These microspheres can be engineered for sustained antigen release with
Future prospects
Although current synthetic systems lack the sophistication found in biology, we can find some solace in the knowledge that we are just a decade or two into the game, whereas biology has had many millions of years lead time. Synthetic drug-delivery systems have already helped people in the clinic, and this impact should expand greatly over the next decade. The movement of synthetic chemists and material scientists into the drug-delivery field should bring new control of biomaterial properties.
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