Advances in Formulations of Microneedle System for Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

作者：Peng Guo, Chi Huang, Qin Yang, Guofeng Zhong, Junbo Zhang, Mengyu Qiu, Rui Zeng, Kaijun Gou, Chen Zhang, Yan Qu · 发表于：International Journal of Nanomedicine · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.2147/ijn.s435251 · 被引用次数：35 · 研究领域：Advancements in Transdermal Drug Delivery、Dermatology and Skin Diseases、Toxin Mechanisms and Immunotoxins

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic joint inflammation, eventually leading to severe disability and premature death. At present, the treatment of RA is mainly to reduce inflammation, swelling, and pain. Commonly used drugs are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), glucocorticoids, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). These drugs lack specificity and require long-term, high-dose administration, which can cause serious adverse effects. In addition, the oral, intravenous, and intra-articular injections will reduce patient compliance, resulting in high cost and low bioavailability. Due to these limitations, microneedles (MNs) have emerged as a new strategy to efficiently localize the drugs in inflamed joints for the treatment of RA. MNs can overcome the cuticle barrier of the skin without stimulating nerves and blood vessels. Which can increase patient compliance, improve bioavailability, and avoid systemic circulation. This review summarizes and evaluates the application of MNs in RA, especially dissolving MNs (DMNs). We encourage the use of MNs to treat RA, by describing the general properties of MNs, materials, preparation technology, drug release mechanism, and advantages. Furthermore, we discussed the biological safety, development prospects, and future challenges of MNs, hoping to provide a new strategy for the treatment of RA.