A Perspective of Engineered Lipids and Liposomes: Chemical Design and Functional Application Based on Therapeutic Safety

Liposome-based drugs have emerged as highly successfulnanomedicinesfor clinical applications owing to their excellent biocompatibility,biodegradability, and targeting effects. However, the lipids thatplay a crucial role in most liposome formulations are often engineeredrather than natural phospholipids. From this perspective, we outlinedthe classification of engineered lipids based on their material chemistry,including charged, polymer-conjugated, ligand-conjugated, and cholinephosphate lipids. We also discussed their drug, gene, protein, andprobe delivery applications. With the increasing requirements forthe innovation of nano drug excipients by the Food and Drug Administration,attention to drug efficacy and side effects has increased in clinics,and the development of superior engineered lipids has become urgent.Therefore, we aim to provide a new idea for developing engineeredlipids in which lipids can be engineered with minimal chemical structurechanges to achieve maximum functions enhancement, with choline phosphatelipids being a favorable choice. In the future, novel engineered lipidsand liposomes should be developed with more powerful functions andsuperior therapeutic safety, which will allow their utilization inthe diagnosis and treatment of major diseases and be valuable formore clinical applications.