Preface

As teachers of immunobiology, we have become increasingly aware of the lack of detailed material in many undergraduate medical courses on experimental approaches to drugs and their effective delivery in the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases. This book provides much-needed information about lipidic nanoscale carriers to deliver drugs to treat cancers and infectious diseases, their mechanism of action, and the pressing issue of evolving drug resistance.

The book addresses the perceived needs of both medical school and undergraduate curricula by synthesizing key concepts in the rapidly advancing and dynamic field of drug delivery. The choice of what is most important is based on what is most clearly established by experimentation, what our students find puzzling, and what explains the efficiency of drugs to treat cancers, infectious and inflammatory disorders. In-vitro and animal models are used to study the mechanism of action of existing and novel drugs. Lipid-based nanoparticles and their engineered versions are used for the effective delivery of drugs and candidate antigens. These drug carriers are of the utmost importance in reducing cytotoxicity while maintaining maximum therapeutic effects and the antigenic potential of drugs and antigens. This book discusses the role of nanoscale drug carriers in the delivery of antigens and vaccine candidates for the maximum therapeutic effect and vaccination potential against infectious diseases as well as cancers. It is a timely addition to the existing literature on delivery vehicles and a useful resource for those working in the field of the immunobiology of cancers and infectious diseases.

> **Rajeev K. Tyagi** Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, Biomedical Parasitology and Nano-immunology Lab, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, India

**1**

Section 1

Liposomes as a Drug Carrier

Section 1
