Nanoparticle delivery systems for cancer therapy: advances in clinical and preclinical research

Abstract

Conventional anticancer drugs display significant shortcomings which limit their use in cancer therapy. For this reason, important progress has been achieved in the field of nanotechnology to solve these problems and offer a promising and effective alternative for cancer treatment. Nanoparticle drug delivery systems exploit the abnormal characteristics of tumour tissues to selectively target their payloads to cancer cells, either by passive, active or triggered targeting. Additionally, nanoparticles can be easily tuned to improve their properties, thereby increasing the therapeutic index of the drug. Liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, polymeric micelles and polymer- or lipid-drug conjugate nanoparticles incorporating cytotoxic therapeutics have been developed; some of them are already on the market and others are under clinical and preclinical research. However, there is still much research to be done to be able to defeat the limitations of traditional anticancer therapy. This review focuses on the potential of nanoparticle delivery systems in cancer treatment and the current advances achieved.

Advanced targeted therapies in cancer: Drug nanocarriers, the future of chemotherapy

“…Unlike the polymer-protein conjugates, where the last FDA approval covered different diseases [126][127][128] such as hepatitis C [131], gout [132], acromegaly [133][134][135], neutropenia [136][137][138], Crohn's disease [139], renal anemia [140], and age-related macular degeneration [141][142][143], the research on polymer-drug conjugates has been focused on cancer treatment, with at least 20 conjugates currently in clinical trials (some of them in discontinued status) [127,130,144]. They are based on the traditional cytotoxic drugs (e.g.…”

Dual Carfilzomib and Doxorubicin–Loaded Liposomal Nanoparticles for Synergistic Efficacy in Multiple Myeloma

“…6B). We anticipate that the increased efficacy of NP[carfþdox] over carf þ dox was due to the delivery of the drugs at their optimal ratio as well as the other advantages gained from nanoparticle incorporation (10,12).…”

“…In recent years, nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have gained remarkable interest, as they have greatly improved the efficacy of traditional therapeutics through controlled release, improved circulations times, enhanced tumor accumulation, and reduced systemic toxicities (8)(9)(10). Importantly, by incorporating two or more drugs into the same nanoparticle, their rate of release, biodistribution, and metabolism can be controlled so that the optimal synergistic ratio can be attained at the tumor site for improved therapeutic efficacy (11).…”

“…In addition, it is possible to incorporate drugs with various physiochemical properties in the different compartments of liposomes. Various chemotherapeutics have previously been incorporated into liposomes with remarkable clinical success, making liposomes an ideal candidate for combination drug delivery (10,13,14).…”

Liposomal Nanoformulations as Current Tumor-Targeting Approach to Cancer Therapy

“…Liposomal nanosystems can overcome the drawbacks of conventional chemotherapy, by increased drug delivery in the tumor tissue and lower drug concentration in normal tissues. This way, the therapeutic efficiency of chemotherapy is increased, while the toxicity and side effects are reduced [4]. Also, due to their small size, the circulation time of standard chemotherapeutic agents is often short as they are rapidly eliminated from the bloodstream by macrophages, thus reducing the effective drug concentration at the tumor site [3].…”