Self-Assembling Nanocarriers for Precision Drug Delivery: From Molecular Design to Therapeutic Application

The development of precision drug delivery systems has become an important area of pharmaceutical research, aiming to improve drug delivery to diseased tissues while limiting exposure to healthy cells. Self-assembling nanocarriers offer a promising approach by transforming molecular building blocks into organized structures with potential therapeutic benefits. Most drugs spread through the whole body, so only a small share of the dose reaches the diseased tissue and healthy cells are exposed along the way. Self-assembling nanocarriers try to fix this by building the delivery vehicle from small units that organise themselves through non-covalent forces. This review draws on twenty-eight published papers, mostly reviews, and follows the idea from molecular design to clinical use. We first describe the interactions that hold an assembly together and show how the choice of building block (peptide, protein, small-molecule drug, prodrug or nucleic acid) shapes the structure that forms. The main carrier classes are then compared, followed by the pH, enzyme and redox triggers that start drug release and the passive and active routes carriers use to find their target. Pharmacokinetic questions and the obstacles to clinical translation come next, together with applications in cancer therapy, gene delivery, protein and peptide delivery and imaging. Many of the sources warn that clinical success has been limited, and most of the evidence reviewed here is preclinical. The most promising way forward seems to be a closer union of molecular design, stimulus response and targeting, with the aim of carriers that can be tailored to individual patients.