Nanomaterials as Protein, Peptide and Gene Delivery Agents

Abstract

Nanomaterials offer significant advantages in delivery of different biomolecules which suffer from drawbacks like poor bioavailability, low stability and retention time, degradation in biological systemsetc. Nanotechnological approach has shown promising results for the sustained release of these biomolecules with minimal toxicity concerns. The present review describes a comprehensive outlook of the different nanomaterials used for the delivery of these biomolecules.Current literature reports related to protein, peptide and gene delivery agents have been reviewed and classified according to their applications.Studies suggested that the nanomaterial based delivery agents can be broadly classified in to five categories which include metallic NPs, polymeric NPs, magnetic NPs, liposomes and micelles. All these materials provided significant improvement in the targeted delivery of biomolecules.Concerns regarding the bioavailability, stability and delivery of proteins, peptides, genes need to be investigated to improve their therapeutic potential in the biological milieu. The use of nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles may avoid undesirable hazards and may increase their pharmaceutical efficacy.