Chitosan Nanoparticles: A Therapeutic Carrier for Delivery of DNA, siRNA and CpG-ODNs

Nucleotides, peptides and proteins are attracting much attention nowadays as therapeutic drugs, because of their potential in treating chronic diseases such as allergies, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. However, the extreme in vivo environment of human body limits the therapeutic applications of these substances. The efficacy of nucleotides can be enhanced by loading them onto nanoparticles before introducing them in the body. Nanoparticle assisted delivery may be a promising approach to alleviate the problem of instability and degradation of nucleotides. The polymeric nanoparticles have gained much attention as in vivo delivery systems due to their ability in overcoming the physiological barriers, protecting and targeting the loaded drugs to their specific location. Among various naturally occurring polymers such as cyclodextrins, emulsions, ceramics, gold shell nanoparticles; chitosan has gained more attention as drug delivery carrier. Various properties such as bactericidal, biocompatibility, low toxicity, etc make chitosan a valuable carrier and thus, it has numerous applications in the pharmaceutical field. This review summarizes some of these findings and highlights the potential of chitosan as a carrier for delivering nucleic acids.