Inorganic nanomaterials as delivery systems for proteins, peptides, DNA, and siRNA

With large current interest in nanomedicine, there has been rapid progress during the last couple of years in the understanding of opportunities offered by advanced materials in diagnostics, drug delivery, functional biomaterials, and biosensors, as well as combinations of these, e.g., theranostics. In the present overview, focus is placed on drug delivery aspects of inorganic nanomaterials, notably as carriers for proteins, peptides, DNA, and siRNA. Throughout, an attempt is made to illustrate how structure and interactions affect loading and release of such biomacromolecular drugs in various inorganic delivery systems, and how this translates into functional advantages.