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Drug delivery to the testis: current status and potential pathways for the development of novel therapeutics

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Abstract

Nanotechnology has been increasingly utilized for the targeting and delivery of novel therapeutic agents to different tissues and cell types. The current therapeutic options for testicular disorders fall short in many instances due to difficulty traversing the blood–testis barrier, systemic toxicities, and complicated dosing regiments. For testicular tissue, potential targeting can be obtained either via anatomic methods or specific ligands such as luteinizing hormone or follicle-stimulating hormone analogs. Potential novel therapeutic agents include DNA, RNA, cytokines, peptide receptor antagonists, peptide receptor agonists, hormones, and enzymes. Nanotherapeutic treatment of testicular cancer, infertility, testicular torsion, orchalgia, hypogonadism, testicular infections, and cryptorchidism within the framework of potential target cells are an emerging area of research. While there are many potential applications of nanotechnology in drug delivery to the testis, this remains a relatively unexplored field. This review highlights the current status as well as potential future of nanotechnology in the development of novel therapeutics for testicular disorders.

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Acknowledgments

Further research in drug delivery for testicular disorders is made possible by a grant from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Research Program Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Desk Q10-1, 9500 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Devon C. Snow-Lisy, Mary K. Samplaski & Edmund S. Sabanegh Jr

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Devon C. Snow-Lisy & Vinod Labhasetwar

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  1. Devon C. Snow-Lisy
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  2. Mary K. Samplaski
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  3. Vinod Labhasetwar
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  4. Edmund S. Sabanegh Jr
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Correspondence to Devon C. Snow-Lisy.

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Snow-Lisy, D.C., Samplaski, M.K., Labhasetwar, V. et al. Drug delivery to the testis: current status and potential pathways for the development of novel therapeutics. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 1, 351–360 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-011-0039-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-011-0039-x

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