Nanotherapeutics in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome

• Published in: Life sciences (1973) 2021-07, Vol.276, p.119428-119428, Article 119428
• Main Authors: Prasanna, Pragya, Rathee, Shweta, Upadhyay, Arun, Sulakshana, Sulakshana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; COVID-19; COVID-19 - physiopathology; Critical Illness; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Drug Delivery Systems - methods; Drug therapy; Etiology; Health services; Humans; Inflammation; Mortality; Nanomedicine - methods; Nanotechnology; Oxygenation; Pathophysiology; Pharmacology; Pharmacotherapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Respiratory distress syndrome; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - drug therapy; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - physiopathology; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - virology; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Review; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; Side effects
• ISSN: 0024-3205; 1879-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119428

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a form of oxygenation failure primarily characterized by rapid inflammation resulting from a direct pulmonary or indirect systemic insult. ARDS has been a major cause of death in the recent COVID-19 outbreak wherein asymptomatic respiratory tract infection progresses to ARDS from pneumonia have emphasized the need for a reliable therapy for the disease. The disease has a high mortality rate of approximately 30–50%. Despite the high mortality rate, a dearth of effective pharmacotherapy exists that demands extensive research in this area. The complex ARDS pathophysiology which remains to be understood completely and the multifactorial etiology of the disease has led to the poor diagnosis, impeded drug-delivery to the deeper pulmonary tissues, and delayed treatment of the ARDS patients. Besides, critically ill patients are unable to tolerate the off-target side effects. The vast domain of nanobiotechnology presents several drug delivery systems offering numerous benefits such as targeted delivery, prolonged drug release, and uniform drug-distribution. The present review presents a brief insight into the ARDS pathophysiology and summarizes conventional pharmacotherapies available to date. Furthermore, the review provides an updated report of major developments in the nanomedicinal approaches for the treatment of ARDS. We also discuss different nano-formulations studied extensively in the ARDS preclinical models along with underlining the advantages as well as challenges that need to be addressed in the future. [Display omitted] •Acute respiratory distress syndrome is an acute form of lung injury with a high mortality rate.•Absence of effective disease management strategies in ARDS have made it a major cause of death in the COVID-19 pandemic.•Nanotherapeutics hold immense potential to improve the current treatment strategies of ARDS.•The nano-based drug-delivery systems offer numerous advantages including sustained drug delivery to pulmonary tissues.•More research is required to address the existing challenges for the clinical success of the proposed nanotherapeutics.