Recent applications of nanomedicine in lung disease

Lung diseases include a wide spectrum of illnesses, such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), pneumonia, tuberculosis, lung cancers, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and have been a huge threat to human health and life. However, the treatment and diagnosis of various lung diseases are challenging. Among the several treatment strategies and diagnostic techniques, the adverse effect to chemotherapy in cancers, multidrug resistance in tuberculosis, side effects, toxicity, poor drug delivery, and metabolism require the development of novel and promising alternative treatments. Nanotechnology provides a promising tool for the development of innovative treatment overcoming many drug challenges. Nanotechnology being widely studied in medicinal field has given rise to the interdisciplinary nanomedicine field allowing fundamental changes in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Lungs provide a good target organ for drug delivery via an aerosol inhalation mode. Lungs provide a large surface area for local drug action and systemic drug absorption and hence nanomedicines have been a boon in treating many of the lung diseases without leading to any side effects or toxicity. The present chapter aims to review nanoparticles-based drug delivery systems studied over the last decade as therapeutic agents in lung diseases.