Blindness and vision impairment are the most devastating global health problems resulting in a substantial economic and social burden. Delivery of drug to particular parts of the anterior or posterior segment has been a major challenge due to various protective barriers and elimination mechanisms associated with the unique anatomical and physiological nature of the ocular system. Drug administration to the eye by conventional delivery systems results in poor ocular bioavailability (<5%). The designing of a novel approach for a safe, simple, and effective ocular drug delivery is a major concern and requires innovative strategies to combat the problem. Over the past decades, several novel approaches involving different strategies have been developed to improve the ocular delivery system. Among these, the ophthalmic in-situ gel has attained a great attention over the past few years. This review discussed and summarized the recent and the promising research progress of in-situ gelling in ocular drug delivery system.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive pulmonary interstitial inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, and is also a sequela in severe patients with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Nintedanib and pirfenidone are the only two known drugs which are conditionally recommended for the treatment of IPF by the FDA. However, these drugs pose some adverse side effects such as nausea and diarrhoea during clinical applications. Therefore, it is of great value and significance to identify effective and safe therapeutic drugs to solve the clinical problems associated with intake of western medicine. As a unique medical treatment, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has gradually exerted its advantages in the treatment of IPF worldwide through a multi-level and multi-target approach. Further, to overcome the current clinical problems of oral and injectable intakes of TCM, pulmonary drug delivery system (PDDS) could be designed to reduce the systemic metabolism and adverse reactions of the drug and to improve the bioavailability of drugs. Through PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and CNKI, we retrieved articles published in related fields in recent years, and this paper has summarized twenty-seven Chinese compound prescriptions, ten single TCM, and ten active ingredients for effective prevention and treatment of IPF. We also introduce three kinds of inhaling PDDS, which supports further research of TCM combined with PDDS to treat IPF.

Skin undergoes degenerative changes as it ages, which include the loss of elasticity, reductions in the epidermal thickness and collagen content, elastic fiber degeneration, and increased wrinkling and dryness. Skin aging can be significantly delayed by the administration of estrogen. Estrogen deficiency following menopause results in atrophic skin changes and the acceleration of skin aging. Estrogen administration has positive effects on human skin by delaying or preventing skin aging manifestations, but the use of estrogen replacement is a risk factor for breast and uterine cancer. Phytoestrogens are a large family of plant‐derived molecules possessing various degrees of estrogen‐like activity; they exhibit agonist or antagonist estrogenic properties depending on the tissue. These molecules could be ideal candidates to combat skin aging and other detrimental effects of hypoestrogenism. In this paper, we review the effects of phytoestrogens on human skin and the mechanisms by which phytoestrogens can alleviate the changes due to aging.

Nanoparticle drug formulations have enormous application prospects owing to achievement of targeted and sustained release drug delivery, improvement in drug solubility and reduction of adverse drug reactions. Recently, a variety of efficient drug nanometer carriers have been developed, among which carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been increasingly utilized in the field of cancer therapy. However, these nanotubes exert various toxic effects on the body due to their unique physical and chemical properties. CNT-induced toxicity is related to surface modification, degree of aggregation in vivo, and nanoparticle concentration. This review has focused on the potential toxic effects of CNTs utilized as anti-tumor drug carriers. The main modes by which CNTs enter target sites, the toxicity expressive types and the factors affecting toxicity are discussed.

Cancer is a major public health problem, and is now the world’s leading cause of death. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-combination therapy is a new treatment approach and a vital therapeutic strategy for cancer, as it exhibits promising antitumor potential. Nanotargeted drug-delivery systems have remarkable advantages and allow the development of TCM-combination therapies by systematically controlling drug release and delivering drugs to solid tumors. In this review, the anticancer activity of TCM compounds is introduced. The combined use of TCM for antitumor treatment is analyzed and summarized. These combination therapies, using a single nanocarrier system, namely codelivery, are analyzed, issues that require attention are determined, and future perspectives are identified. We carried out a systematic review of >280 studies published in PubMed since 1985 (no patents involved), in order to provide a few basic considerations in terms of the design principles and management of targeted nanotechnology-based TCM-combination therapies.

Fibrosis and cancer is described by some epidemiological studies as chronic stages of different disease conditions typically characterized by uncontrolled accumulation of extra-cellular matrix (ECM), thereby leading to inflammation of tissues and organ (lungs, heart, liver and kidney) dysfunction. It is highly prevalent, and contributes to increased mortality rate worldwide. Currently, the therapeutical approaches involving selected medications (bemcentinib, pirfenidone and nintedanib) obtained synthetically, and used in clinical practices for fibrosis and cancer management and treatment has shown to be unsatisfactorily, especially during progressive stages of the disease. With regards to finding a more potent, effective, and promising curative for fibrosis and cancer, there is need for continuous experimental studies universally. However, phytochemical constituents’ particularly phenolic compounds [Chlorogenic acid (CGA)] obtained from coffee, and coffee beans have been predominantly utilized in experimental studies, due to its multiple pharmacological properties against various disease forms. Considering its natural source alongside minimal toxicity level, CGA, a major precursor of coffee have gained considerable attention nowadays from researchers worldwide, owing to its wide, efficacious and beneficial action against fibrosis and cancer. Interestingly, the safety of CGA has been proven. Furthermore, numerous experimental studies have also deduced massive remarkable outcomes in the use of CGA clinically, as a potential drug candidate against treatment of fibrosis and cancer. In the course of this review article, we systematically discussed the beneficial contributions of CGA with regards to its source, absorption, metabolism, mechanistic effects, and molecular mechanisms against different fibrosis and cancer categorization, which might be a prospective remedy in the future. Moreover, we also highlighted CGA (in vitro and in vivo analytical studies) defensive effects against various disorders.