Zein-based Nanocarriers as Potential Natural Alternatives for Drug and Gene Delivery: Focus on Cancer Therapy
Ahmed O. Elzoghby, May S. Freag, Hadeer Mamdouh, Kadria A. Elkhodairy
Current Pharmaceutical Design
Abstract
Protein nanocarriers possess unique merits including minimal cytotoxicity, numerous renewable sources, and high drug-binding capability. In opposition to delivery carriers utilizing hydrophilic animal proteins, hydrophobic plant proteins (e.g, zein) have great tendency in fabricating controlled-release particulate carriers without additional chemical modification to stiffen them, which in turn evades the use of toxic chemical crosslinkers. Moreover, zein is related to a class of alcohol-soluble prolamins and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) carrier for drug delivery. Various techniques have been adopted to fabricate zein-based nanoparticulate systems including phase separation coacervation, spray-drying, supercritical anti-solvent approach, electrospinning and self-assembly. This manuscript reviews the recent advances in the zein-based colloidal nano-carrier systems such as nanospheres, nanocapsules, micelles and nanofibers with a special focus on their physicochemical characteristics and drug delivery applications.
Extracted Claims
9 claims extracted from this paper into the knowledge graph
self-assembly is used for fabricating zein-based nanoparticulate systems
“Various techniques have been adopted to fabricate zein-based nanoparticulate systems including phase separation coacervation, spray-drying, supercritical anti-solvent approach, electrospinning and sel...”
zein is alcohol-soluble prolamins
“Moreover, zein is related to a class of alcohol-soluble prolamins and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) carrier for drug delivery.”
zein has high drug-binding capability
“Protein nanocarriers possess unique merits including minimal cytotoxicity, numerous renewable sources, and high drug-binding capability.”