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Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is the most prevalent malignancy worldwide, with approximately 6.3 million new cases worldwide in 2019. One of the key management strategies for NMSC is a topical treatment usually utilised for localised and early-stage disease owing to its non-invasive nature. However, the efficacy of topical agents is often hindered by poor drug penetration and patient adherence. Therefore, various research groups have employed advanced drug delivery systems, including topical patches to overcome the problem of conventional topical treatments. This review begins with an overview of NMSC as well as the current landscape of topical treatments for NMSC, specifically focusing on the emerging technology of topical patches. A detailed discussion of their potential to overcome the limitations of existing therapies will then follow. Most importantly, to the best of our knowledge, this work unprecedentedly combines and discusses all the current advancements in innovative topical patches for the treatment of NMSC. In addition to this, the authors present our insights into the key considerations and emerging trends in the construction of these advanced topical patches. This review is meant for researchers and clinicians to consider utilising advanced topical patch systems in research and clinical trials toward localised interventions of NMSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) has significantly affected a large proportion of the elderly population worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 8.5 million people worldwide are living with PD. In the United States, an estimated one million people are living with PD, with approximately 60,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Conventional therapies available for Parkinson's disease are associated with limitations such as the wearing-off effect, on-off period, episodes of motor freezing, and dyskinesia. In this review, a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in DDSs used to reduce the limitations of current therapies will be presented, and both their promising features and drawbacks will be discussed. We are also particularly interested in the technical properties, mechanism, and release patterns of incorporated drugs, as well as nanoscale delivery strategies to overcome the blood–brain barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Pancreatic cancer is a serious ongoing global health burden, with an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. One major hurdle in the treatment of this disease is the predominantly elderly patient population, leading to their ineligibility for curative surgery and a low rate of successful outcomes. Systemic administration introduces chemo-agents throughout the body via the blood, attacking not only tumours but also healthy organs. When localised interventions are employed, chemo-agents are retained specifically at tumour site, minimizing unwanted toxicity. As a result, there is a growing interest in finding novel localised interventions as alternatives to systemic therapy. Here, we present a detailed review of current locoregional therapies used in pancreatic cancer therapy. This work aims to present a thorough guide for researchers and clinicians intended to employ established and novel localised interventions in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, we present our insights and opinions on the potential ideals to improve these tools. Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and the third in the United States, making it one of the most lethal solid malignancies. Unfortunately, the symptoms of this disease are not very apparent despite an increasing incidence rate. Therefore, at the time of diagnosis, 45% of patients have already developed metastatic tumours. Due to the aggressive nature of the pancreatic tumours, local interventions are required in addition to first-line treatments. Locoregional interventions affect a specific area of the pancreas to minimize local tumour recurrence and reduce the side effects on surrounding healthy tissues. However, compared to the number of new studies on systemic therapy, very little research has been conducted on localised interventions for PC. To address this unbalanced focus and to shed light on the tremendous potentials of locoregional therapies, this work will provide a detailed discussion of various localised treatment strategies. Most importantly, to the best of our knowledge, the aspect of localised drug delivery systems used in PC was unprecedentedly discussed in this work. This review is meant for researchers and clinicians considering utilizing local therapy for the effective treatment of PC, providing a thorough guide on recent advancements in research and clinical trials toward locoregional interventions, together with the authors' insight into their potential improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functionalized nanoparticles have played a major role in the field of targeted therapy, owing to their ability to control the release and for the selective delivery of entrapped materials to tumours. In this work, we described the loading capacity and in vitro release kinetics of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), functionalized with Poly-L-Histidine and Tamoxifen. The model drug Doxorubicin (DOX) was successfully encapsulated into MSN-based systems, using the technique of solvent immersion. A post-surface grafting loading method was investigated on functionalized systems, with DOX loading content determined using HPLC. Dialysis bag diffusion was employed to investigate the release kinetics of DOX-loaded-systems at pH 7.4 and 5. The amount of DOX released from native MSNs systems over a 72 h period at pH 5 was approximately 40%; and at pH 7.4 ≈ 30%. A moderate pH dependent release behaviour was observed with both our functionalized systems: DOX@MSN-PLH and DOX@MSN-PLH-TAM; with approximately 5% of DOX released from DOX@MSN-PLH-TAM at pH 7.4 and about 9% released at pH 7.4 over 72 h. The maximal cumulated release of DOX molecules from DOX@MSN-PLH after 72 h was ≈18% at pH 7.4 and ≈23% at pH 5, respectively. The outcome of this work offers a promising contribution towards building future stimuli-responsive nano-drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]