Advances in therapeutic nanodrug delivery systems for infectious lung diseases: a review

Infectious lung diseases are inflammatory diseases of the lungs caused by infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses or fungi. Oral or intravenous administration of antibiotics is the most common method of treatment, but some drugs have poor release stability, high systemic toxicity and susceptibility to drug resistance. Nanodrug delivery systems are promising alternatives for the treatment of infectious lung diseases, because they provide the advantages of enhancing the stability and solubility of delivered drugs, increasing pulmonary accumulation, decreasing systemic toxicity and ameliorating drug resistance. This review provides a brief overview of recent advances in approaches and ideas in pulmonary drug delivery methods. We believe that nano-based therapeutic strategies offer great potential to broaden the scope of treatment of infectious lung diseases and enhance therapeutic efficacy.