The global burden of cancer, a progressive disease with complex etiology, continues to rise. With an estimated 1.5 million new diagnoses each year, including nearly 350 000 cases of highly aggressive melanoma, the need for improved therapeutic strategies is paramount. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization have established a clear link between occupational exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). While age, skin tone, and cumulative UVR exposure are recognized risk factors, current treatment modalities, including chemotherapy and surgery, often exhibit limited efficacy and significant side effects. This underscores the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches that enable targeted drug delivery, enhanced tumor penetration, and reduced systemic toxicity. Transferosomes-based drug delivery systems have emerged as a promising avenue for achieving these goals, with vesicular systems offering a particularly attractive strategy for transdermal skin cancer therapy. This review focuses on transferosomes and transethosomes as such vesicular systems, highlighting recent advances in their application for targeted skin cancer treatment.

Monosodium urate crystals form and deposit in and around the joints due to hyperuricemia, a condition characterized by a prolonged increase in serum urate levels. This leads to tissue supersaturation with urate and results in gout, a prevalent form of inflammatory arthritis. Gout can be effectively managed with febuxostat (FBT), a nonpurine selective xanthine oxidase inhibitor. Despite the efficacy of FBT, its use is limited by poor oral bioavailability and aqueous solubility, which are influenced by its co-administration with food and enzymatic degradation. To address the formulation challenges, topical liposomal formulations can be utilized. These formulations, which leverage the affinity of liposomes for keratin and their ability to penetrate deeper into the skin, offer improved drug absorption. This study aimed to develop a liposomal formulation with soy lecithin and cholesterol using the thin-film hydration method, optimized via the Box–Behnken design. The optimized liposomal formulation was then incorporated into a transdermal gel prepared with Carbopol 934 using the dispersion method. The optimized liposomal formulation demonstrated favorable properties, including a vesicle size of 392.5 ± 11.02 nm, zeta potential of 28 ± 6.13 mV, polydispersity index of 0.127, and high entrapment efficiency as confirmed via transmission electron microscopy. The resulting transdermal gel exhibited the necessary antibacterial activity; excellent stability; in vitro release of 81.33% ± 1.19% over 7 h; and appropriate pH, viscosity, spreadability, and gel strength. Overall, the liposomal gel formulation represents a highly effective approach for transdermal drug delivery.