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Direct Drug Targeting into Intracellular Compartments: Issues, Limitations, and Future Outlook

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Abstract

Intracellular compartment drug delivery is a promising strategy for the treatment of diseases. By this way, medicines can delivered to particular intracellular compartments. This maximizes the therapeutic efficacy and safety of medicines, particularly of anticancer and antiviral drugs. Intracellular compartment drug delivery is either indirectly by targeting of cell nucleus as central compartment of the cell or directly through the targeting of compartments itself. Drugs or nanoshuttles labeled with compartment’s localization signal represent a smart tactic for subcellular compartment targeting. There are several boundaries prevent the arrival of shuttles to the specified intracellular compartments. These boundaries include selective permeability of biomembranes, efflux transporters, and lysosomes. The utilization of specific ligands during design of drug delivery nanoshuttles permits the targeting of specified intracellular compartment. Therefore drugs targeting could correct the diseases associated organelles. This review highlights the direct targeting of the medicines into subcellular compartment as a promising therapeutic strategy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the Vice Research Chairs at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia for funding this work through Kayyali Chair for Pharmaceutical Industry, Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, for funding the work through Grant Number G-2019-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kayyali Chair for Pharmaceutical Industry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Gamaleldin I. Harisa

  2. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Gamaleldin I. Harisa

  3. Department of Biochemistry, College of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

    Gamaleldin I. Harisa

  4. Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Tarek M. Faris

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  1. Gamaleldin I. Harisa
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Correspondence to Gamaleldin I. Harisa.

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Harisa, G.I., Faris, T.M. Direct Drug Targeting into Intracellular Compartments: Issues, Limitations, and Future Outlook. J Membrane Biol 252, 527–539 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-019-00082-5

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