A New Frontier in Nanomedicine: The Promise of Cubosomes in Drug Delivery Systems

Cubosomes represent nanostructured particles with liquid crystalline properties, formulated from lipids possessing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains, combined with stabilizing agents. These nanoparticles have attracted considerable interest as an efficacious and novel drug delivery system within nanomedicine. Their distinctive internal architecture, characterized by a bicontinuous cubic phase, facilitates the incorporation of hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and amphiphilic pharmaceutical compounds, thereby offering an exceptionally versatile platform for controlled and targeted drug delivery. This review explores the structure, the drug release mechanisms, the pros and cons of cubosomes, and we put forth a comparison with traditional lipid-based carriers. We pay special attention to their preparation methods, which include top down, bottom up and spray drying and also to their physicochemical evaluation via use of various analysis tools. Also, we report on key results of recent research which saw cubosomes used to deliver drugs like latanoprost, acetazolamide, simvastatin and curcumin which in turn did that which improved bioavailability and therapeutic index. We put forward the great value of cubosomes in overcoming present drug delivery issues and in fostering innovation in targeted therapy especially in oncology, dermatology and ophthalmology.