# Advances in Nanotechnology for the Treatment of Herpes Virus Infections

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how nanotechnology can improve herpes virus treatments by enhancing drug delivery and reducing toxicity.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of nanocarrier systems for HSV treatment, emphasizing their efficacy and safety in preclinical studies.

## Key findings

- Nanocarriers like polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes show increased antiviral activity in cell cultures.
- Nanosystems demonstrate prolonged antiviral effects and reduced toxicity in animal models.
- Multiple nanocarrier types were evaluated, including solid lipid nanoparticles and nanoemulsions.

## Abstract

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections present a major global health burden due to their high morbidity. Conventional therapies offer limited efficacy due to poor bioavailability, the need for frequent administration and potential drug resistance. Recent advances in nanotechnology provide opportunities to overcome these limitations. This review summarizes the latest advances in nanocarrier-based formulations, highlighting their role in improving bioavailability, sustained release, mucosal penetration and antiviral activity. An integrative search was conducted from January 2010 to December 2025. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to select the articles. After analyzing the articles, 34 were included in this review with in vitro studies and 14 with in vivo assays. These articles were evaluated in relation to physicochemical characterization studies and in vitro and in vivo assays. Studies were found involving polymeric nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, liposomes, niosomes, nanoemulsions and nanofibers. Regarding in vitro assays, it was observed that the nanosystems showed increased antiviral activity in cell cultures infected with the herpes simplex virus. In addition, developed nanosystems showed prolonged antiviral activity and lowered toxicity in animal models. Thus, these systems prove to be effective when compared to conventional therapy and can be considered an advance in HSV infection therapy.