LAUSR

Targeted drug delivery also known as smart drug delivery or active drug delivery is a subcategory of nanomedicine. Using this strategy, the medication is delivered into the infected organs in the patient's body or for some medications to the exact parts inside the cells. In order to improve therapeutic efficiency and pharmacokinetic characteristics of the active pharmaceutical agents, conjugation of biomacromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, monoclonal antibodies, aptamers and so on to nanoparticulate drug carriers are mostly recommended by scientists in the last decades. Several covalent conjugation pathways were used for biomacromolecules coupling with nanomaterials in the nanomedicine including carbodiimides and "click" mediated reactions, thiol-mediated conjugation, and biotin-avidin interactions. However, choosing one or a combination of these methods with suitable coupling for the application on advanced drug delivery is so essential. This review focused on the new and high impacted published articles around the field of nanoparticles and biomacromolecules coupling studies, as well as their advantages and applications.