Throughout the years, considerable progress has been made in methods for delivering drugs directly to the lungs, which offers enhanced precision in targeting specific lung regions. Currently, for treatment of lung cancer, the prevalent routes for drug administration are oral and parenteral. These methods, while effective, often come with side effects including hair loss, nausea, vomiting, susceptibility to infections, and bleeding. Direct drug delivery to the lungs presents a range of advantages. Notably, it can significantly reduce or even eliminate these side effects and provide more accurate targeting of malignancies. This approach is especially beneficial for treating conditions like lung cancer and various respiratory diseases. However, the journey towards perfecting inhaled drug delivery systems has not been without its challenges, primarily due to the complex structure and functions of the respiratory tract. This comprehensive review will investigate delivery strategies that target lung cancer, specifically focusing on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—a predominant variant of lung cancer. Within the scope of this review, active and passive targeting techniques are covered which highlight the roles of advanced tools like nanoparticles and lipid carriers. Furthermore, this review will shed light on the potential synergies of combining inhalation therapy with other treatment approaches, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The goal is to determine how these combinations might amplify therapeutic results, optimizing patient outcomes and overall well-being.

Lung diseases have received great attention in the past years because they contribute approximately one-third of the total global mortality. Pulmonary drug delivery is regarded as one of the most appealing routes to treat lung diseases. It addresses numerous drawbacks linked to traditional dosage forms. It presents notable features, such as, for example, a non-invasive route, localized lung drug delivery, low enzymatic activity, low drug degradation, higher patient compliance, and avoiding first-pass metabolism. Therefore, the pulmonary route is commonly explored for delivering drugs both locally and systemically. Inhalable nanocarrier powders, especially, lipid nanoparticle formulations, including solid-lipid and nanostructured-lipid nanocarriers, are attracting considerable interest in addressing respiratory diseases thanks to their significant advantages, including deep lung deposition, biocompatibility, biodegradability, mucoadhesion, and controlled drug released. Spray drying is a scalable, fast, and commercially viable technique to produce nanolipid powders. This review highlights the ideal criteria for inhalable spray-dried SLN and NLC powders for the pulmonary administration route. Additionally, the most promising inhalation devices, known as dry powder inhalers (DPIs) for the pulmonary delivery of nanolipid powder-based medications, and pulmonary applications of SLN and NLC powders for treating chronic lung conditions, are considered.

In recent decades, there has been a significant amount of research into breast cancer, with some important breakthroughs in the treatment of both primary and metastatic breast cancers. It's a well-known fact that treating breast cancer is still a challenging endeavour even though physicians have a fantastic toolset of the latest treatment options at their disposal. Due to limitations of current clinical treatment options, traditional chemotherapeutic drugs, and surgical options are still required to address this condition. In recent years, there have been several developments resulting in a wide range of treatment options. This review article discusses the cellular and molecular foundation of chemotherapeutic drugs, endocrine system-based treatments, biological therapies, gene therapy, and innovative techniques for treating breast cancer.

The extensive genetic diversity of HIV-1 represents a major challenge to public health interventions, treatment, and successful vaccine design. This challenge is particularly pronounced in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where limited data among other barriers preclude the accurate characterization of HIV-1 genetic diversity. The objective of this review was to analyze studies conducted in the MENA region to delineate possible barriers that would hinder the accurate depiction of HIV-1 genetic diversity in this region. A systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar was conducted for published records on HIV-1 genetic diversity in the English language up until 1 October 2024 across 18 MENA countries. The pre-defined themes of challenges/barriers included limited sampling, data gaps, resource and infrastructure constraints, HIV-1-specific factors, and socio-cultural barriers. A total of 38 records were included in the final review, comprising original articles (55.3%), reviews (21.1%), and sequence notes (10.5%). Libya (15.8%), Morocco (13.2%), Saudi Arabia, and MENA as a whole (10.5% for each) were the primary sources of the included records. Of the 23 records with original MENA HIV-1 sequences, the median number of sequences was 46 (range: 6–193). The identified barriers included the following: (1) low sampling density; (2) limited clinical data (21.7% with no data, 60.9% partial data, and 17.4% with full data); (3) reliance solely on population sequencing and insufficient use of advanced sequencing technologies; (4) lack of comprehensive recombination analysis; and (5) socio-cultural barriers, including stigma with subsequent under-reporting among at-risk groups. The barriers identified in this review can hinder the ability to map the genetic diversity of HIV-1 in the MENA. Poor characterization of HIV-1’s genetic diversity in the MENA would hinder efforts to optimize prevention strategies, monitor drug resistance, and develop MENA-specific treatment protocols. To overcome these challenges, investment in public health/research infrastructure, policy reforms to reduce stigma, and strengthened regional collaboration are recommended.