Nano-enabled topical delivery of anti-psoriatic small molecules

Abstract

Psoriasis is chronic autoimmune disorder mediated via T cell activation affecting 3% of population globally and is characterized by various features including erythema, scaling, hyperkeratosis, hyperplasia, plaques etc. Inspite of on going extensive researches in this disease area there is not a single therapy which claims complete cure and their primary focus is based on ameliorating the major symptoms underlying this pathophysiology and improving the medical condition. Out of the various currently assessable therapies, topical drug delivery approaches are mostly preferred because of their several advantages including direct targeting to desired site eliminating exposure to remaining body organs and hence minimizing the adverse side effects. The conventional drug delivery approaches (gels, creams and ointments) available as over the counter (OTC) products are associated with several disadvanatges due to local toxicity (irritation, burning, atropy etc), systemic toxicity (associated with drug leaching), reduced treatment efficacy (due to lower penetration of active in the viable epidermal region and poor retentive capability) and high dosing frequency with poor patient compliance because of reduced benefit to risk ratio. To address the above challenges and improve the benefit to risk ratio, nanoformulation based strategies are adopted due to several advantages including slow and sustained drug release (eliminating local toxicity due to sudden exposure of drug), deeper skin penetration, higher cellular uptake with localized retention with negligible systemic leaching. This review emphasizes on various types of nano-carriers (liposomes, niosomes, nano-emulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, etc) loaded with different anti-psoriatic small molecules in psoriasis treatment.