Phytosomes: emergent promising nano vesicular drug delivery system for targeted tumor therapy

N Abdul Azeez, V Sudarshana Deepa and V Sivapriya

Abstract

Targeting the tumor tissues in oncotherapeutics is attracting more attention worldwide for the past three decades. The exigent need to reduce the side effects of the drugs presses the need for the advancements in the targeting therapies and better alternative to the conventional chemotherapies. The effective bio compatible bioactive compounds that are appropriate substitutes to the conventional anti-cancer drugs face the difficulty in being transported across the cell membrane as they are hydrophilic. In this article the nano vesicular drug delivery system, one of the well-received approaches for targeted drug delivery is reviewed, more specifically the phytosomes. Phytosomes are the unique class of vesicular drug delivery systems that carry the plant derived bio active compounds across the cell membrane. Phytosomes are micelles capable of encapsulating the plant extracts in the core and conjugating the targeting proteins on the outer surface. Vesicular drug delivery systems in common are passive targeting drug carriers by evading the immune system. But in the case of tumor therapy, due to enhanced permeation and retention effect the phytosomes that are more than 40 kDa and a nano-metric size range of 100-1200 nm target the tumor cells actively. Passive targeting increases the bioavailability of the drugs and the active targeting specifically delivers the drugs in the site of action are coupled in phytosomes to deliver the bioactive compounds. In this review, the synthesis, properties and drug encapsulation and delivery mechanisms of the phytosomes are discussed