Tumor targeting by liposomes

Liposomes provide a delivery system that carries the required amount of a drug to the specific area of the body. Because of that, one potential application for liposomes is anti-cancer formulations. Studies have suggested that liposomes are delivered to tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect¹. As a passive targeting mechanism, EPR effect allows the accumulation of drugs within the tumor tissue thanks to immature, highly permeable vasculature and ineffective lymphatic system that allow efficient extravasation of such macromolecules.

^{1 Yingchoncharoen P., Kalinowski D.S., Richardson D.R. 2016. Lipid-Based Drug Delivery Systems in Cancer Therapy: What Is Available and What Is Yet to Come. Pharmacol Rev. 68(3):701-87.}

Promising vehicle for nucleic acids

Nucleic acids (mRNA, siRNA, DNA aptamers, etc.) are the new frontiers of drug discovery. However, the industry has faced technological challenges in commercializing nucleic acid medicines due to their poor pharmacological stability. Lipid nanoparticle has been studied for a decade as a potential solution to this problem, which recently is coming to fruition in some clinical applications, such as mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.