Natural liposomes and synthetic polymeric structures for biomedical applications

• We give an overview on liposomes as drug delivery system and their accomplishments also in clinical use.
• We introduce polymersomes as potential alternative for liposomes as drug delivery vehicle on a research level.
• Polymersomes are feasible for future biomedical application as to drug delivery due to diverse modification options.
• Polymersomes are a suitable model for cell-uptake of nanomaterials.

In the last decades, the development and design of drug delivery systems have attracted great attention. Especially siRNA carriers have been of special interest since discovered as suitable tool for gene silencing. Self-assembled structures consisting of amphiphilic molecules are the most investigated carriers with regards to siRNA delivery. Liposomes as drug vehicles already found their way into clinical use, as they are highly biocompatible and their colloidal stability and circulation time in blood can be significantly enhanced by PEGylation. Fully synthetic polymersomes inspired by these natural structures provide enhanced stability and offer a wide range of modification-possibilities. Therefore, their design as carrier vehicles has become of great interest. This mini-review highlights the possibilities of using polymeric vesicles for potential drug delivery and gives a brief overview of their potential regarding fine-tuning towards targeted delivery or triggered drug release.