Lina Wu
Gregory M. Lanza2*
Jin Xie
Dipanjan Pan- 1Molecular Imaging Research Center, the Fourth affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
- 2School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
- 3Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
- 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
Editorial on the Research Topic
Emerging advances in exploiting pulmonary administration for treatment of thoracic diseases
Introduction
Thoracic diseases represent some of the major healthcare challenges worldwide. This field has witnessed remarkable advancements in recent years, with demonstrated efficacy in managing respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis (Bhatt et al., 2023; Woodward and Fromen, 2024). Encouragingly, emerging applications extend to respiratory infections, pulmonary oncology, and even systemic disorders including diabetes, revealing broader therapeutic potential (Li et al., 2022). Despite these advances, still some challenges remain to attract wide attention from academic and industrial circles. This Research Topic, titled “Emerging Advances in Exploiting Pulmonary Administration for Treatment of Thoracic Diseases,” aimed to address the latest research in this field, including clinical trials, formulations, biosafety, Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications et al., through pulmonary administration by compiling cutting-edge research.
Scheme 1. The solicited submissions scope of this Research Topic (This image is generated by Biorender).
Scope and contributions
In this Research Topic, we solicit submissions reporting recent progress on pulmonary administration. Related topics include but were not limited to the following: Clinical trials on new drugs delivered through the pulmonary route. Investigating nanoparticle or genetic formulations given through pulmonary administration. Advanced aerosol, nebulization, instillation, or inhalation therapies. Safety and pharmacokinetics-related studies. Mechanisms of imaging and therapy. Intratracheal or pulmonary delivery instrument, device, or medical facilities. Delivery-associated complications. Bronchoscope applications in the context of thoracic disease treatment. Artificial Intelligence applications in precision detection of thoracic diseases and challenges in the pulmonary delivery of therapeutics, Scheme 1.
Focusing on these subjects, this Research Topic received 15 submissions, of which 4 were accepted (27% acceptance rate). Key contributions include: A kind of dual-modality MRI/fluorescence ultrasmall iron oxide nanoprobe was successfully synthesized that can effectively assess and dynamically monitor atherosclerotic plaques, showing potential for clinical translation (Zhang et al.). A retrospective study on the characteristics of respiratory muscle function and influencing factors in patients with dyspnea and normal or mildly abnormal lung function (Yang et al.). A novel method for precise implantation of a tracheal Y-shaped stent (Ding et al.) and a review report on the development of clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer drugs in China from 2005 to 2023 (Jia et al.).
Future perspectives
The field of pulmonary administration is evolving rapidly, particularly in the treatment of localized lung diseases, driven by the innovations in nanotechnology, advanced aerosol systems, and gene therapy (Wang et al., 2023). Nevertheless, critical challenges still need to be addressed to translate promising preclinical innovations into successful clinical application. Key priorities include improving alveolar targeting precision to minimize proximal airway drug loss and overcoming bioavailability limitations linked to pulmonary deposition variability and metabolic clearance (Wang et al., 2024; Yang et al., 2022). Ensuring nanocarrier safety and developing scalable production methods for complex systems (e.g., lipid nanoparticles, exosomes) remain vital for clinical adoption. Interdisciplinary approaches—such as AI-optimized carrier design, patient-tailored therapies based on anatomical and biomarker data, and strategies to bypass pulmonary barriers (e.g., mucus clearance, epithelial junctions) (Li et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2024; Ren et al., 2025). It can be anticipated that targeted pulmonary therapies will continue to serve as pivotal contributors to global respiratory disease management, driven by rapid interdisciplinary advancements in precision medicine.
Author contributions
LW: Writing – review and editing, Writing – original draft. GL: Writing – review and editing. JX: Writing – review and editing. DP: Writing – review and editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgments
We sincerely thank all the reviewers who kindly reviewed the articles and the authors for sharing their innovative work. We would also like to thank all the editors for their contributions. Meanwhile, we truthfully appreciate Professor Anthony Hickey at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy for his seminal discussions regarding pulmonary administration and the thematic scope during the foundational planning phase of this Research Topic. Finally, Lina Wu extends gratitude to Harbin Medical University Marshal Initiative Funding and The Fourth Clinical Hospital of HMU (No. HYDSYTB202233).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declare that no Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.
Publisher’s note
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References
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Li, Y., Yang, J., Gu, G., Guo, X., He, C., Sun, J., et al. (2022). Pulmonary delivery of theranostic nanoclusters for lung cancer ferroptosis with enhanced chemodynamic/radiation synergistic therapy. Nano Lett. 22 (3), 963–972. doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03786
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Keywords: pulmonary administration, thoracic diseases, lung cancer, IPF, artificial intelligence
Citation: Wu L, Lanza GM, Xie J and Pan D (2025) Editorial: Emerging advances in exploiting pulmonary administration for treatment of thoracic diseases. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 13:1612172. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1612172
Received: 15 April 2025; Accepted: 18 April 2025;
Published: 25 April 2025.
Edited and reviewed by:
Gianni Ciofani, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), ItalyCopyright © 2025 Wu, Lanza, Xie and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lina Wu, bGluYXd1aG11QGhvdG1haWwuY29t; Gregory M. Lanza, Z3JlZy5sYW56YUBtZS5jb20=; Jin Xie, amlueGllQHVnYS5lZHU=; Dipanjan Pan, ZGlwYW5qYW5AcHN1LmVkdQ==