Table 2.
List of niosomal formulations functionalized with various agents. EE: encapsulation efficiency.
| Targeted Ligand | Drug | Formulation | Particle size (nm) | Zeta potential (mV) | PDI | EE (%) | Outcome | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aptamer | Doxorubicin (Dox) | PEGNIO/Dox | 152.7 ± 34 | 3.56 ± 0.27 | 0.214 | 39.52 ± 1.8 | Cytotoxicity tested for HeLa and U87 cells overexpressing MUC1 | [69] |
| PEGNIO/Dox/CysTAT–MUC1 | 164.5 ± 40 | 8.62 ± 0.50 | 0.275 | |||||
| Aptamer | Ru (III)-complex HoThyRu | Niosome_HoThyRu | 56.8 ± 0.1 | 0.32 ± 0.02 | The bioactive effect of Ru (III) increased with AS1411 and anti-proliferative activity reported on HeLa cells. | [70] | ||
| AS1411/Niosome_HoThyRu | 86.7 ± 0.6 | 0.32 ± 0.04 | ||||||
| Peptide | Dox and Curcumin | PEGNIO/D–C | 144.1 ± 61 | 0.152 | D:23.3 ± 1.6, C:32.6 ± 1.9 | Synergistic effect of drugs with functionalized nanoparticles reported. Cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative effect tested for U87 cells. | [72] | |
| PEGNIO/D–C/tLyp-1 | 146.1 ± 69 | 0.140 | D:22.0 ± 1.5, C:31.2 ± 1.8 | |||||
| Peptide | Tenofovir | PEG-NI | 154.8 ± 2.6 | 5.85 | 0.262 ± 0.032 | 71.00 ± 0.01 | The anti-HIV effects of PEGylated niosome were superior to those conjugated to TAT systems. | [74] |
| TAT-NI1 | 208.9 | 0.39 | 75 | |||||
| Transferrin | HCPT (10-Hydroxycamptothecin) | PEG-NS | 97 ± 8 | −3.76 ± 0.02 | 0.182 ± 0.042 | 93.59 ± 0.13 | HCPT loading by PEGylated and transferrin-functionalized niosomes showed significant toxicity in KB, K562 and especially S180 cells. | [80] |
| Tf-PEG-NS | 116 ± 9 | −3.44 ± 0.03 | 0.222 ± 0.021 | 93.00 ± 0.38 | ||||
| Transferrin | Dox | L64ox/Chol-D | 350 ± 11 | 0.243 | 37.3 ± 0.5 | The formulation showed dose-dependent toxicity in MCF-7 and MDA-Mb-231 cell lines. | [76] | |
| L64ox/Chol-D-Tf | 361 ± 11 | 0.267 | 37.0 ± 0.5 | |||||
| FA | Curcumin | Fe3O4@PLGA-PEG | 164.2 ± 2.1 | 0.163 | The optimal formulation induced apoptosis in Hela229 cells and showed good drug loading and release. | [90] | ||
| Fe3O4@PLGA-PEG@FA | 190.4 ± 5.3 | 0.112 | ||||||
| Chitosan | Ursolic Acid | Nio-UA | 198.7 ± 13.8 | −57.5 ± 11.9 | 0.29 ± 0.02 | Cytotoxicity increased by adding chitosan layers in Hela cells, while less sensitive in Huh7it cells. | [84] | |
| Nio-UA-CS | 237.7 ± 6.2 | 3.88 ± 1.5 | 0.33 ± 0.03 | |||||
| Phenolic Acids | Curcumin | T80C | 201.25 ± 9.32 | −27.8 ± 0.28 | 0.251 ± 0.036 | 14.6 ± 3.15 | The synergistic effect of Curcomin with GA and CF showed better antioxidant activity. | [89] |
| T80C-GA | 91.70 ± 4.50 | −13.3 ± 1.0 | 0.225 ± 0.042 | |||||
| T80C-CF | 83.70 ± 2.60 | −14.9 ± 0.85 | 0.273 ± 0.007 | |||||
| T80C-FR | 72.5 ± 1.11 | −15.9 ± 0.40 | 0.281 ± 0.018 |