Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 15.1
Examples of Liposome-Sequestered Drugs Currently On the Market.
Name
Drug carried
Disease targeted
Myocet
Doxorubicin
Breast cancer
Doxil, Caelyx
Doxorubicin
Several cancers
LipoDox
Doxorubicin
Several cancers
Thermodox
Doxorubicin
Liver cancer
DaunoXome
Daunorubicin
Kaposi's sarcoma
Abelcet
Amphoteracin B
Fungal infections
Ambisome
Amphoteracin B
Fungal infections
Estrasorb
Estradiol
Menopausal therapy
Marqibo
Vincristine
Metastatic malignant melanoma
Visudyne
Verteporfin
Eye diseases
DepoCyt
Cytarabine
Meningitis
DepoDur
Morphine sulfate
Postoperative pain
Arikace
Amikacin
Lung infections
Lipoplatin
Cisplatin
Epithelial malignancies
LEP-ETU
Paclitaxel
Ovarian, breast & lung cancer
Epaxal
Hepatitis A vaccine
Hepatitis A
Inflexal V
Influenza vaccine
Influenza
6.
They can be unilamellar or multilamellar.
7.
They can be positive, negative or neutral.
8.
They can be made with a wide range of permeability to sequestered solutes.
9.
They can simultaneously accommodate water-soluble and lipid-soluble drugs.
10.
They are non-toxic and biodegradable.
11.
Various ligands can be attached to their surfaces.
12.
Lectins, antigens, and receptors can be attached to their surfaces.
13.
There are many ways to make liposomes (discussed in Chapter 13).
From this impressive list, it would appear that liposomes can be constructed for just about
any drug delivery purpose. But are liposomes really a panacea? Unfortunately, nothing in life
is as simple as one would hope. Upon testing liposomes as drug delivery agents, it was soon
discovered that when injected intravenously, most liposomes are very rapidly taken upby cells
of the reticulo-endothelial system (RES) and are sent to the lysosome for destruction
[5]
.
Through the years, many attempts have been made to avoid the RES, and thus enhance lipo-
some circulation time and the possibility to selectively target many parts of the human body.
There are now a growing number of liposome-sequestered drugs that are medically used to
combat a variety of human afflictions and many more are in clinical trials. A representative
