Research Progress on Carrier-Free Self-Assembled Nanoparticle Formulations for Traditional Chinese Medicine

In recent years, carrier-free self-assembled nanomedicines developed from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have received substantial attention in the realms of TCM modernization and biomedicine. This is due to their various synergistic benefits in high-load medication delivery, inherently low toxicity and side effects and the ease with which they may be prepared and combined with TCM processing and extraction processes. They have numerous application opportunities and development potential, particularly in anticancer, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating and antibacterial applications. This paper summarizes the self-assembly interactions among active components in TCM, provides a detailed review of current carrier-free self-assembled nanodrug preparation methods and highlights their applications and research progress in biomedical fields such as antitumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating therapies. Finally, it discusses the challenges and future development directions for self-assembled carrier-free nanomedicines derived from TCM, with the goal of providing a theoretical foundation for rationally designing more effective formulations and their clinical applications, as well as modernizing TCM.