Metal oxide nanocarrier for targeted drug delivery towards the treatment of global infectious diseases: A review

Conventional systems for drug delivery vehicles face many limitations, thus, there have been an extensive investigation for alternative strategies. In the last decade, nanotechnology had shown a great potential for the use in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields such as targeted drug delivery systems (DDS). Furthermore, nanotechnology had a gradually improving effect in preclinical advancing research, thus defining the evolving scientific field of nanomedicine. The use of targeted DDS can enhance the transport and local concentration of drugs. Owing to their small size and high drug loading and release efficiencies, nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured materials have been greatly considered a potential candidate for transporting drugs to the targeted site of action. Furthermore, Nanocarriers with conjugated drugs can enhance the biological delivery of drugs and improve their circulation in blood stream. Among the numerous different kinds of nanomaterials that have been investigated and reported, those based on metal oxide nanoparticles have attracted the interest of researchers due to their attractive properties such as simple surface functionalization, porosity, high stability, tunable shape and easy preparation processes. Metal oxide nanoparticles have been investigated for various biomedical applications such as medical imaging, drug delivery, gene therapy, hyperthermia related therapies, antioxidant treatment, photodynamic therapy, dentistry, and wound healing strategies. This work goals to review the main aspects regarding Metal oxide nanoparticles, highlighting the main biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of iron oxide, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and copper oxides mainly focusing on their applications in targeted drug delivery towards the treatment of global infectious diseases and cancer.