Recent advances of non-lamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline nanoparticles in nanomedicine

Non-lamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline nanocarriers such as hexosomes and cubosomes are relatively unexplored lipid-based nanoparticles in nanomedicine that can be specifically formulated to match specific medical applications, thus exploiting the majority of the possible routes of administrations. A growing number of papers demonstrate intriguing features that make them good candidates as nanocarriers for therapeutically active molecules or imaging probes. Yet, important aspects, including pharmacokinetics, hemocompatibility, toxicity, and delivery properties, are not completely clarified, so that their full potential as nanomedicines remains to be assessed. This article reviews recent advances in the field and suggests possible new routes forward.