Engineering delivery systems of therapeutic agents has grown into an independent field, transcending the scope of traditional disciplines and capturing the interest of both academic and industrial research. At the same time, the acceleration in the discovery of new therapeutic moieties (chemical, biological, genetic and radiological) has led to an increasing demand for delivery systems capable of protecting, transporting, and selectively depositing those therapeutic agents to desired sites. The vast majority of delivery systems physically reside in the colloidal domain, while their surface properties and interfacial interactions with the biological milieu critically determine the pharmacological profiles of the delivered therapeutic agents. Interestingly though, the colloidal and surface properties of delivery systems are commonly overlooked in view of the predominant attention placed on the therapeutic effectiveness achieved. Moreover, the development and evaluation of novel delivery systems towards clinical use is often progressed by serendipity rather than a systematic design process, often leading to failure. The present article will attempt to illustrate the colloid and interfacial perspective of a delivery event, as well as exemplify the vast opportunities offered by treating, analysing and manipulating delivery systems as colloidal systems. Exploring and defining the colloid and surface nature of the interactions taking place between the biological moieties in the body and an administered delivery vehicle will allow for the rational engineering of effective delivery systems. A design scheme is also proposed on the way in which the engineering of advanced delivery systems should be practiced towards their transformation from laboratory inventions to clinically viable therapeutics. Lastly, three case studies are presented, demonstrating how rational manipulation of the colloidal and surface properties of delivery systems can lead to newly engineered systems relevant to chemotherapy, gene therapy and radiotherapy.

中文翻译：

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药物输送系统的合理设计和工程：胶体和表面科学中的生物医学练习。

治疗剂的工程传递系统已经发展成一个独立的领域，超越了传统学科的范围，并引起了学术和工业研究的兴趣。同时，新治疗部分（化学，生物学，遗传和放射学）发现的加速导致对能够保护，运输和选择性地将那些治疗剂沉积到所需部位的递送系统的需求增加。绝大多数递送系统物理上位于胶体域中，而它们的表面特性和与生物环境的界面相互作用则决定了所递送治疗剂的药理特性。有趣的是 考虑到对所获得的治疗效果的主要关注，通常忽略了递送系统的胶体和表面性质。而且，针对临床应用的新型递送系统的开发和评估通常是偶然性而不是系统的设计过程，这往往会导致失败。本文将尝试说明传递事件的胶体和界面观点，并举例说明通过将传递系统视为胶体系统进行处理，分析和操纵所提供的巨大机会。探索和定义体内生物部分与给药载体之间相互作用的胶体和表面性质，将有助于合理设计有效的给药系统。还提出了一种设计方案，在该方案中，应实践先进的输送系统的工程设计，以将其从实验室发明转变为临床上可行的治疗方法。最后，提出了三个案例研究，证明了对传递系统的胶体和表面特性的合理操纵如何导致与化学疗法，基因疗法和放射疗法相关的新设计系统。