Biomaterials and Bioengineering Approaches for Mitochondria and Nuclear Targeting Drug Delivery

When a therapeutic molecule is administered into a biological system, it faces numerous barriers on its way to the target site. While a portion of the administered dose can overcome these barriers, localize to the targeted site, and provide a therapeutic effect, the vast majority either accumulates off-target sites or is excreted without pharmacological benefit. Current drug delivery research aims to address this problem by protecting therapeutic molecules from the biological milieu so that they can minimize off-target toxicity, while concomitantly overcoming the associated barriers to effectively reach the location of interest. In this review, we focus biomaterials and bioengineering approaches that have potential to overcome intracellular barriers. We discuss the various systems/materials developed so far to deliver drugs and genes and the major challenges that remain unmet. Finally, we provide outlook on the importance of subcellular targeting drug delivery and give an overview on potential approaches and materials.