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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
From Drug Carriers to Vaccine Adjuvants in Malaria
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From Drug Carriers to Vaccine Adjuvants in Malaria

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 June 2019) | Viewed by 13744

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets

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Guest Editor
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Centre Esther Koplowitz, Planta 1, ISGlobal, Rosselló 149-153, ES08036 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: nanomedicine; cell adhesion; liposomes; Plasmodium; targeted drug delivery; malaria; aggregative proteins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Livia Neves Borgheti-Cardoso

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Guest Editor
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Centre Esther Koplowitz, planta 1, ISGlobal, Rosselló 149-153, ES08036 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: drug delivery; extracellular vesicles; malaria; Plasmodium; gene silencing; liquid crystals; nanotechnology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the undeniable importance of malaria elimination on the global research agenda, current vaccines in development do not offer prospects of complete protection, and the available front-line drugs are rapidly losing efficacy, with resistance already evolved to the first-line drug artemisinin. As a result, since 2014 the malaria incidence and mortality decline have stalled. Thus, alternative strategies working through radically new mechanisms are urgently needed.

Because malaria pathophysiology is so complex, and the disease is so widespread, it is generally accepted that to achieve eradication a combination of weapons will be needed. These include the improvement of existing approaches and the development of new ones, with drug therapy and vaccination remaining the mainstays of treatment and prevention, and encapsulation or coating of carriers with therapeutic agents or vaccine antigens being a potentially essential tool in the future fight against malaria. Encapsulation of drugs in targeted delivery systems is a rapidly growing area with clear applicability to infectious disease treatment, and malaria vaccine adjuvants based on antigen presentation by circulating particles will be an essential asset for future prophylactic strategies.

This special issue of Pharmaceutics has a clear focus on research in these important areas.

Prof. Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets

Dr. Livia Neves Borgheti-Cardoso
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • malaria
  • nanocarrier
  • vaccine
  • drug delivery
  • liposomes
  • extracellular vesicles
  • nanoparticles
  • nanovectors
  • antimalarial drugs
  • drug resistance
  • immunization
  • vaccine antigen
  • drug therapy
  • Plasmodium

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 18581 KiB  
Article
An ImmunoPEGliposome for Targeted Antimalarial Combination Therapy at the Nanoscale
by Arnau Biosca, Lorin Dirscherl, Ernest Moles, Santiago Imperial and Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets
Pharmaceutics 2019, 11(7), 341; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics11070341 - 16 Jul 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7068
Abstract
Combination therapies, where two drugs acting through different mechanisms are administered simultaneously, are one of the most efficient approaches currently used to treat malaria infections. However, the different pharmacokinetic profiles often exhibited by the combined drugs tend to decrease treatment efficacy as the [...] Read more.
Combination therapies, where two drugs acting through different mechanisms are administered simultaneously, are one of the most efficient approaches currently used to treat malaria infections. However, the different pharmacokinetic profiles often exhibited by the combined drugs tend to decrease treatment efficacy as the compounds are usually eliminated from the circulation at different rates. To circumvent this obstacle, we have engineered an immunoliposomal nanovector encapsulating hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds in its lumen and lipid bilayer, respectively. The antimalarial domiphen bromide has been encapsulated in the liposome membrane with good efficiency, although its high IC50 of ca. 1 µM for living parasites complicates its use as immunoliposomal therapy due to erythrocyte agglutination. The conjugation of antibodies against glycophorin A targeted the nanocarriers to Plasmodium-infected red blood cells and to gametocytes, the sole malaria parasite stage responsible for the transmission from the human to the mosquito vector. The antimalarials pyronaridine and atovaquone, which block the development of gametocytes, have been co-encapsulated in glycophorin A-targeted immunoliposomes. The co-immunoliposomized drugs have activities significantly higher than their free forms when tested in in vitro Plasmodium falciparum cultures: Pyronaridine and atovaquone concentrations that, when encapsulated in immunoliposomes, resulted in a 50% inhibition of parasite growth had no effect on the viability of the pathogen when used as free drugs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Drug Carriers to Vaccine Adjuvants in Malaria)
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20 pages, 3496 KiB  
Article
Polyamidoamine Nanoparticles for the Oral Administration of Antimalarial Drugs
by Elisabet Martí Coma-Cros, Arnau Biosca, Joana Marques, Laura Carol, Patricia Urbán, Diana Berenguer, Maria Cristina Riera, Michael Delves, Robert E. Sinden, Juan José Valle-Delgado, Lefteris Spanos, Inga Siden-Kiamos, Paula Pérez, Krijn Paaijmans, Matthias Rottmann, Amedea Manfredi, Paolo Ferruti, Elisabetta Ranucci and Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets
Pharmaceutics 2018, 10(4), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics10040225 - 10 Nov 2018
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6273
Abstract
Current strategies for the mass administration of antimalarial drugs demand oral formulations to target the asexual Plasmodium stages in the peripheral bloodstream, whereas recommendations for future interventions stress the importance of also targeting the transmission stages of the parasite as it passes between [...] Read more.
Current strategies for the mass administration of antimalarial drugs demand oral formulations to target the asexual Plasmodium stages in the peripheral bloodstream, whereas recommendations for future interventions stress the importance of also targeting the transmission stages of the parasite as it passes between humans and mosquitoes. Orally administered polyamidoamine (PAA) nanoparticles conjugated to chloroquine reached the blood circulation and cured Plasmodium yoelii-infected mice, slightly improving the activity of the free drug and inducing in the animals immunity against malaria. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry analysis of affinity chromatography-purified PAA ligands suggested a high adhesiveness of PAAs to Plasmodium falciparum proteins, which might be the mechanism responsible for the preferential binding of PAAs to Plasmodium-infected erythrocytes vs. non-infected red blood cells. The weak antimalarial activity of some PAAs was found to operate through inhibition of parasite invasion, whereas the observed polymer intake by macrophages indicated a potential of PAAs for the treatment of certain coinfections such as Plasmodium and Leishmania. When fluorescein-labeled PAAs were fed to females of the malaria mosquito vectors Anopheles atroparvus and Anopheles gambiae, persistent fluorescence was observed in the midgut and in other insect’s tissues. These results present PAAs as a versatile platform for the encapsulation of orally administered antimalarial drugs and for direct administration of antimalarials to mosquitoes, targeting mosquito stages of Plasmodium. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Drug Carriers to Vaccine Adjuvants in Malaria)
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