Delivery strategies to target therapies to inflammatory tissue.

Background: Inflammation plays a key role in many chronic disease processes as well as an acute role in injury and wound healing. Various cell types are recruited from the bloodstream to the inflamed site through adhesion molecules, cytokines, chemokines and others.

Objectives: This review examines many drug-targeting strategies that make use of these molecules or signaling pathways, and seeks to describe certain commonalities irrespective of the disease process or agent to be delivered.

Methods: A survey of the literature, primarily within the last year, was performed. Search words included 'drug targeting' and 'inflammation' and of those, the scope was refined to include those studies that specifically sought to modify or ameliorate an aspect of the inflammatory process in the treatment of a disease.

Results/conclusion: Inflammation plays a key role in many diseases, and many similar targets (such as adhesion molecules) are the focus of the treatment of those diseases.