Nanotechnology-based rose Bengal: A broad-spectrum biomedical tool

Rose Bengal is an anionic xanthene dye, a derivative of fluorescein, born in the 19th century as a textile dye; to date, it is known primarily in ophthalmology as a diagnostic tool and demonstrated to be promising in the biomedical field. Rose Bengal intrinsic cytotoxicity against tumor and microbial cells is responsible for its therapeutic potential; moreover, it is a sono-photosensitizer drug suitable for sono-photodynamic therapy. Due to its disadvantageous bio-pharmaceutical profile, Rose Bengal is approved only as an ocular diagnostic stain and has been designated by the Food and Drug Administration as an orphan drug to treat certain cancers. Two main pharmaceutical approaches such as molecular structural changes and drug delivery systems were investigated to overcome Rose Bengal limits. The current review reports the physical-chemical profile and pharmacokinetic properties of Rose Bengal and presents a short overview of its biomedical applications. The review focuses on Rose Bengal nanosized delivery systems already developed to outline the current research topics and to assess whether nanotechnology can maximize its therapeutic potential overcoming its limits. Through the revision of Rose Bengal research articles about this topic, it emerges that a proper Rose Bengal nanosized delivery system can efficiently improve its biopharmaceutical profile and enhance Rose Bengal-based therapy.