High-Density Lipoprotein Mimetic Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases

Nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs), which are mimetics of naturally occurring high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) present in the human body have been suggested as a new delivery platform for a range of therapeutics for cancer chemotherapy, heart disease, and infectious diseases. FDA approved drugs such as immunotherapeutic proteins, single-stranded DNA, small molecule drugs such as doxorubicin can be formulated in this system to achieve enhanced, better drug performance and clinical index, and greater in vivo safety profile. Patients can better tolerate these delivered drugs.

How Targeted Drug Delivery Systems Can Help

The use of these nanolipoprotein particles for delivery of therapeutic drugs, diagnostic imaging agents (MRI, PET, SPECT), and vaccine and immunomodulation applications has only recently been examined. Since these particles are naturally present in the human body, the NLP platform is less likely to result in issues facing other nanoparticle systems that are currently used for the targeted delivery of therapeutics, such as immunogenicity, stability in complex biological fluids, and toxicity.

Studies on NLP Drug Delivery

This great scientific work was published in the journal of PLoS One. 2014; 9(3): e93342, Evaluation of Nanolipoprotein Particles (NLPs) as an In Vivo Delivery Platform. The findings of this study suggest that the NLP platform holds promise for use as both a targeted and non-targeted in vivo delivery vehicle for a range of therapeutics.

The amphipathic nature of the NLP platform provided facile conjugation of myriad molecules through either surface conjugation or lipidic anchoring. PEG lipids such as DSPE-PEG and PEG surfactant such as C18-PEG6 supplied by Creative PEGWorks were used to prepare the novel self-assembled construct, where drugs and targeting molecules were conjugated to the distal terminal of PEG via click chemistry (azide and alkyne).