Liposome
A liposome is a lipid-based vesicular nanocarrier consisting of an aqueous compartment enclosed by a lipid bilayer.
A liposome is a lipid-based vesicular nanocarrier consisting of an aqueous compartment enclosed by a lipid bilayer. Its membrane-like architecture and biocompatibility support the encapsulation and transport of both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, making liposomes one of the clinically validated nanocarrier platforms for pharmaceutical delivery 42026392Apr. Liposome performance is influenced by properties such as particle size, lipid composition, cholesterol content, surface charge, encapsulation efficiency, and membrane stability.
Liposomes can be engineered with surface components that alter their biological interactions. In particular, PEGylated liposomes carry a polyethylene glycol corona whose chain length, surface density, and coating strategy affect stability, circulation lifetime, and interactions with biological systems 41850023Mar. Functionalization with aptamers, hyaluronic acid, antibodies, or metallic nanoparticles can be used to modify cellular uptake, tissue distribution, trafficking, or targeting behavior. These properties have placed liposomes within several major areas of biomedical research, including blood–brain barrier drug delivery, cancer gene delivery, cellular uptake and biocompatibility, oxidative stress and inflammation, and the development of systems related to extracellular vesicles and exosomes.
Rebuilt from PubMed 10 Sept 2026 · no new papers today
Where the papers sit
11 papers study liposome directly. The themes below are drawn from those 11. 1 paradigm shift follows.
-
Multifunctional Nanomedicine Delivery : Targeted and multifunctional delivery combines aptamers, EGFR-degrading PROTACs, doxorubicin, PEG-corona engineering and microfluidic administration. Recurring goals are tumor killing, controlled protein delivery and improved tissue or cellular uptake. 7 papers · 63.6%
-
Liposome Cellular Uptake : Surface engineering with β-CMCD coatings, cationic DOTAP SORT LNPs and gold functionalization is being used to tune membrane association, cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking. 2 papers · 18.2%
-
Liposome Formulation Optimization : Manufacturing is moving toward pilot-scale, reproducible production, with supercritical CO2 PGSS and tighter control of particle size, dispersity and encapsulation efficiency. Lipid oxidation and unsaturation remain key constraints in dual-drug colon-cancer formulations. 2 papers · 18.2%
Liposome localization does not ensure delivery to target cells or deeper tissue
The PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin tumor model and the microfluidic jet-injection model of liposome delivery into human ex vivo skin independently found that liposomes can remain largely outside the intended cellular or tissue target: in tumors, most drug remained encapsulated in the interstitium and had limited access to tumor cells, while in skin, jet injection mainly increased liposome accumulation in the epidermis rather than producing the deeper distribution observed for insulin 42503863Jul 42009147Apr. This challenges the assumption that liposome delivery or tissue deposition translates directly into intracellular tumor delivery or deep-tissue penetration, making spatial release and target-cell access—not carrier localization alone—the relevant endpoints.
Recent Findings on liposome
Recent work converges on engineering liposomes to improve delivery performance while addressing formulation and translational constraints. Reviews emphasize that clinically established systems such as Doxil and AmBisome can improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce toxicity relative to conventional formulations, but formulation stability, manufacturing scalability, variable tumor accumulation through the EPR effect, and repeated-dose immunogenicity remain unresolved 42026392Apr. Mechanistic studies of transdermal delivery add that liposomal niacinamide can enhance permeation through stratum corneum models, with findings consistent with cholesterol-mediated vesicle–lipid fusion 41795262Mar. The field is therefore moving toward scalable microfluidic production, surface-modified and stimuli-responsive formulations, and more individualized targeted systems, while recognizing that tumor heterogeneity, multidrug resistance, biocompatibility, and regulatory barriers continue to limit clinical translation 42026392Apr41773625Mar.
Studies of PEGylated and surface-functionalized liposomes show that cellular uptake depends on both the architecture of the liposome interface and the biological context. Structural analysis demonstrates that PEG chain length, surface density, and pre- versus post-insertion strategies produce distinct corona thickness, density, hydration, and leaflet asymmetry without substantially altering the lipid bilayer core 41850023Mar. These design variables have functional consequences: gold nanoparticle decoration enhanced uptake in HeLa cells and reduced trafficking to lysosome-associated compartments without detectable cytotoxicity under the tested conditions, whereas in vivo PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin showed limited access to tumor cells, with much of the drug remaining encapsulated in the tumor interstitium and internalized drug released gradually in tumor cells and tumor-associated macrophages 41960788Apr42503863Jul. Together, the findings shift emphasis from circulation time alone toward quantitative analysis of corona organization, cellular internalization, intracellular trafficking, and the distinction between encapsulated and free drug as determinants of therapeutic performance.
Microfluidic approaches are being used to increase the precision of liposome manufacture and administration, although the resulting localization depends strongly on the application. An integrated microreactor produced uniformly sized, doxorubicin-loaded liposomes functionalized with the AS1411 aptamer, with high encapsulation efficiency and reported stability and tumor-targeting specificity in breast-cancer in vitro and in vivo studies 42339546Jun. By contrast, microfluidic jet injection into human ex vivo skin increased liposome-associated fluorescence mainly in the epidermis rather than significantly increasing dermal signal, even though the same system enabled deeper, jet-number-dependent delivery of insulin 42009147Apr. These results support continued development of modular microfluidic systems for either ligand-directed tumor delivery or deliberately superficial and tunable intradermal localization, with imaging methods helping define delivery pathways and tissue distribution 42339546Jun42009147Apr.
Written from 11 PubMed abstracts, each one cited by PMID above. Published: 2026-08-22. Last written: 2026-08-27 by GPT. Drafted by language models from published abstracts; not medical advice.