Nanomedicine Based on Natural Products: Improving Clinical Application Potential

Abstract

Natural products have antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and other pharmacological activities and are an important source of drugs for prevention and treatment of various diseases. However, the inherent defects of natural products in physiological media such as poor solubility and stability and short biological half-life limit their clinical application. In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to the science of drug delivery by nanoscale materials. A large number of in vitro and in vivo studies have further confirmed the efficacy and safety of nanomedicine based on natural products in preclinical models of various diseases. In this review, we summarized the achievements of nanomaterials in improving the efficacy of natural products, introduced the research progress in several key fields of natural product-based nanomedicine in medical application, and discussed the challenges and prospects of clinical transformation of nanomedicine.