tissue regeneration

Stability, challenges, and prospects of chitosan for the delivery of anticancer drugs and tissue regenerative growth factors

Rahman, M.H., Mondal, M.I.H., 2024. Stability, challenges, and prospects of chitosan for the delivery of anticancer drugs and tissue regenerative growth factors. Heliyon 10, e39879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39879.

The review article presents various chitosan-based platforms for drug delivery. In particular, systems for cancer treatment and for the delivery of growth factors that promote tissue regeneration.

Growth factors can be applied to wounds in combination with chitosan using hydrogels, aerogels or micro/nanogels.
The gels can be used, for example, to deliver epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to the wound tissue.
A combination of growth factors can prove to be beneficial, as chitosan itself has properties that promote wound healing. Chitosan has an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effect. Chitosan also forms a non-protein matrix that supports tissue growth. Furthermore Chitosan depolymerizes to N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosamine, which mediates fibroblast proliferation, angiogenesis and collagen deposition in the wound. This accelerates wound healing and reduces the formation of scar tissue.

A large number of possible combinations of substances with antitumor effects and chitosan have already been described, including sponges, scaffolds, nanocarriers, beads, films and capsules. For example, chitosan nanoparticles have been loaded with 5-fluorouracil, paclitaxel or doxorubicin.
Nanocarriers improve bioavailability but also clearance and reduce cytotoxicity. A controlled release of the active substance is possible. The side effects of treatment with cytostatics could thus be minimized.

Summary
Chitosan-based drug delivery systems for growth factors and cancer drugs have shown promising results. In future, they could be used for the treatment wounds or carcinomas in the future.

Electrophoretic deposition is getting more attention in recent years. It is cost-effective and can be applied in many ways to produce a variety of composites. In the following, we present an article highlighting the influence of initial concentrations and process parameters on the deposition of chitosan-hydroxyapatite structures. Furthermore, the bonds and interactions in the deposited structures were also investigated.

Stem cell therapy has received a lot of attention in recent years and has created new ways of treating the various conditions and ailments. The stem cells can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types and can positively influence inflammatory reactions. Clinical applications of stem cells are still limited, among others due to the high concentrations of ROS (reactive oxygen species) in the environment of the inflammation which limits retention of the transplanted stem cells.

343 articles about chitosan were published in February 2017. Main topics address chitosan in connection to nanoparticles, tissues and in evaluation studies. Top countries in chitosan research were China (57), India (29) and USA (21).

166 articles about chitosan were published in May 2015. In the rank of nations scientists from China gained with 39 publications the leading position, followed by India (16), the US (12) and Italy (11). The research priorities focused on nanoparticles, evaluation studies and pharmaceutical preparations.