Advances in the Drug Delivery Systems for Psoriasis Topical Therapy

Yang Liu,1,* Ruizhen Chang,2,* Huan Deng,2 Feiqing Liang,2 Xi Xu,2 Yuning Luo2 1Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment Responsive Drug Research, Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, People’s Republic of China; 2Shenzhen Longgang Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518112, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xi Xu, Shenzhen Longgang Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518112, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Yuning Luo, Shenzhen Longgang Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518112, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Psoriasis (PSO) is an immune-related skin disease featured by rapid and excessive cell growth leading to thick red scaly skin plaques. The main treatment strategy for PSO involves using anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppressants, etc, to relieve symptoms, suppress inflammation, and retard the overgrowth and division of skin cells. However, these drugs generally have disadvantages such as poor targeting, short half-life, low bioavailability, significant toxic side effects, etc. which impose a huge physiological and pathological burden on patients. Recently, the use of delivery systems to topical deliver drugs to the damaged psoriatic skin sites has received extensive attention from researchers. These systems promote drug stability, enhance drug penetration, and improve drug efficacies. The continuous development of various multifunctional topical delivery systems provides more therapeutic ideas for the cure of PSO. Based on this, this manuscript reviews the research progress of various delivery systems (including nanoparticles, hydrogels, microneedles, micelles, dendrimers, liposomes, nanoemulsions, vesicles, etc.) for PSO topical therapy and summarizes their development status in clinical treatment. It’s expected to provide reference for the design of novel topical delivery systems and promote the development of PSO therapy methods.Keywords: psoriasis, drug carrier, drug delivery, topical therapy