Overuse or misuse of antibiotics and their residues in the environment results in the emergence and prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria and leads to serious health problems. Notable progress in liposome research has been made in drug delivery and several liposomal drugs have been approved for clinical use owing to its biocompatibility and improved efficacy. Recently, liposomes have been engineered further to release encapsulated drugs on the target of interest in a dose-controlled fashion in response to external stimuli such as light, pH, and heat. Among those, light-activated liposomal drug delivery gained a lot of attention because drug release at the targeted sites can be precisely controlled by varying laser/light duration, energy and beam area. We envision potential applications of the light-activated liposomal delivery systems for effective drug-resistant antimicrobial therapies. The use of light-activated liposomes will be widely spread in antimicrobial therapies if the amount of drug is precisely controlled for a prolonged time at a target location. In this review, we discussed the breadth and depth of various light-activated liposomal drug delivery technology. Emphasis was given to repetitive release mechanism and applications of light-activated liposomes because the repeatability provides stability and precise control of the drug delivery system to prevent overdose of antimicrobials and treat with minimal doses. We described limitations on translation from pre-clinical to clinical settings and strategies to overcome the limitations. Careful consideration of light-responsive materials, lipid composition, laser parameters and laser safety is important when selecting and designing the drug delivery system for successful applications.
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