Solid lipid nanoparticle

See also: RNA vaccine and DNA vaccine
Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs). There is only one phospholipid layer because the bulk of the interior of the particle is composed of lipophilic substance. Payloads such as modRNA, RNA vaccine or others can be embedded in the interior, as desired. Optionally, targeting-molecules such as antibodies, cell-targeting peptides, and/or other drug molecules can be bound to the exterior surface of the SLN.
Liposomes are ("hollow") lipid nanoparticles which have a phospholipid bilayer as coat, because the bulk of the interior of the particle is composed of aqueous substance. In various popular uses, the optional payload is e.g. DNA vaccines, Gene therapy, vitamins, antibiotics, cosmetics and many others.
Part of a series of articles on
Nanomaterials
Carbon nanotubes
Fullerenes
Other nanoparticles
Nanostructured materials

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are very small spherical particles composed of lipids. They are a novel pharmaceutical drug delivery system (part of nanoparticle drug delivery), and a novel pharmaceutical formulation.[1][2] Using LNPs for drug delivery was first approved in 2018 for the siRNA drug Onpattro.[3] LNPs became more widely known in late 2020, as some COVID-19 vaccines that use RNA vaccine technology coat the fragile mRNA strands with PEGylated lipid nanoparticles as their delivery vehicle (including both the Moderna and the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines).[4]

  1. ^ Saupe, Anne; Rades, Thomas (2006). "Solid Lipid Nanoparticles". Nanocarrier Technologies. pp. 41–50. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5041-1_3. ISBN 978-1-4020-5040-4.
  2. ^ Jenning, V; Thünemann, AF; Gohla, SH (2000). "Characterisation of a novel solid lipid nanoparticle carrier system based on binary mixtures of liquid and solid lipids". International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 199 (2): 167–77. doi:10.1016/S0378-5173(00)00378-1. PMID 10802410.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stat4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Pardi, Norbert; Hogan, Michael J.; Porter, Frederick W.; Weissman, Drew (April 2018). "mRNA vaccines — a new era in vaccinology". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 17 (4): 261–279. doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.243. PMC 5906799. PMID 29326426.