Gene

Genetic enhancement

Nanoparticle

Neuroscience

Biology

Materials science

Diabetic retinopathy

Retina

Ophthalmology

Gene delivery

Endocrinology

Glaucoma

Blindness

Biochemistry

Drug

Drug delivery

Nanotechnology

Bioinformatics

Nanomedicine

Macular degeneration

Pharmacology

Medicine

Optometry

Posterior segment of eyeball

Diabetes mellitus

Naunyn-Schmiedeberg s Archives of Pharmacology

Blindness affects more than 60 million people worldwide. Retinal disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and glaucoma, are the leading causes of blindness. Finding means to optimize local and sustained delivery of drugs or genes to the eye and retina is one goal to advance the development of new therapeutics. Despite the ease of accessibility of delivering drugs via the ocular surface, the delivery of drugs to the retina is still challenging due to anatomic and physiologic barriers. Designing a suitable delivery platform to overcome these barriers should enhance drug bioavailability and provide a safe, controlled, and sustained release. Current inventions for posterior segment treatments include intravitreal implants and subretinal viral gene delivery that satisfy these criteria. Several other novel drug delivery technologies, including nanoparticles, micelles, dendrimers, microneedles, liposomes, and nanowires, are now being widely studied for posterior segment drug delivery, and extensive research on gene delivery using siRNA, mRNA, or aptamers is also on the rise. This review discusses the current state of retinal drug/gene delivery and highlights future therapeutic opportunities.

Nanomedicine and drug delivery to the retina: current status and implications for gene therapy