Drug delivery articles from across Nature Portfolio

Using nanoparticles featuring anisotropic characteristics is a promising approach to developing multifunctional platforms for drug delivery and theranostics. This Review discusses methods to generate anisotropy in nanosystems and strategies to control particle transport, targeting and interaction with cells to overcome biological barriers.

Antimicrobial resistance is becoming more prevalent. Here the authors use multimodal nanoparticles to modulate the infected microenvironment, recruit neutrophils and alleviate hypoxia to restore neutrophil function, demonstrating therapeutic efficacy against MRSA infections in mice.

Interdisciplinary strategies bridging oncology, neuroscience, bioelectronics and materials science will facilitate the development of next-generation therapies and devices for cancers of the central nervous system.

An article in Advanced Materials presents a drug delivery platform for cancer chemotherapy that is activated by radiation.

A long-standing nanoparticle delivery paradigm in cancer, that is, the enhanced permeability and retention effect, has been challenged, shifting the focus to active delivery mechanisms, which may provide a new mechanistic foundation for nanoparticle design.