Polymer-Based Nanocarriers for Co-Delivery and Combination of Diverse Therapies against Cancers

Abstract

Cancer gives rise to an enormous number of deaths worldwide nowadays. Therefore, it is in urgent need to develop new therapies, among which combined therapies including photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy (CHT) using polymer-based nanocarriers have attracted enormous interest due to the significantly enhanced efficacy and great progress has been made so far. The preparation of such nanocarriers is a comprehensive task involving the cooperation of nanomaterial science and biomedicine science. In this review, we try to introduce and analyze the structure, preparation and synergistic therapeutic effect of various polymer-based nanocarriers composed of anti-tumor drugs, nano-sized photothermal materials and other possible parts. Our effort may bring benefit to future exploration and potential applications of similar nanocarriers.

Interaction of Mitoxantrone-Loaded Cholesterol Modified Pullulan Nanoparticles with Human Serum Albumin and Effect on Drug Release

“…Nanopreparations have good sustained release and targeting and are a hot topic of research in drug delivery systems [1,2]. The nanometer size can be used to passively target tumor tissue via an enhanced permeability and retention effect, achieve local fixed-point release, and exert an antitumor effect [3].…”

A Modular Coassembly Approach to All-In-One Multifunctional Nanoplatform for Synergistic Codelivery of Doxorubicin and Curcumin

“…During the past decades, in view of the complexity of cancer and thus the limited clinical efficacy of monotherapy, the administration of two or more drugs with complementary anticancer mechanisms, i.e., combination chemotherapy, has become increasingly important to enhance anticancer efficacy [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In particular, the nanoparticulate combination therapy, i.e., codelivery of multiple drugs by nanoparticles (NPs), merged the beneficial features of both nanoformulations and combination therapy, which have demonstrated to be an effective strategy to treat cancer [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

“…During the past decades, in view of the complexity of cancer and thus the limited clinical efficacy of monotherapy, the administration of two or more drugs with complementary anticancer mechanisms, i.e., combination chemotherapy, has become increasingly important to enhance anticancer efficacy [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In particular, the nanoparticulate combination therapy, i.e., codelivery of multiple drugs by nanoparticles (NPs), merged the beneficial features of both nanoformulations and combination therapy, which have demonstrated to be an effective strategy to treat cancer [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. When compared with the conventional cocktail chemotherapy, the codelivery of multiple drugs in one NP system can realize the definitive delivery of a correct ratio of each drug and enable the controlled release in target site, prolong drug circulation half-life, accumulate at the tumors through enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect, and thus optimize the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of drugs, achieving a more significant synergistic anticancer effect [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Toxicological assessment of nanoparticle interactions with the pulmonary system

“…NPs have very versatile capacities to encapsulate different types of molecules; not only drugs, but also macromolecules (Depreter, Pilcer, and Amighi 2013;Tawfeek et al 2013;Gaggar et al 2016), biopharmaceuticals (Kunda et al 2015;Chauhan and Sood 2016), nucleic acids and gene therapeutics (Rudolph et al 2005;Babincova and Babinec 2006;Kim et al 2014;Yan et al 2017). They efficiently allow for multidrug or combinational therapy targeting (Wang et al 2016;Costa-Gouveia et al 2017;Zhang et al 2017;Yan et al 2018) achieving synergistic, or multi-targeting, or theranostic applications. Functionalized NPs can deliver the active substance intracellularly (Medina et al 2009Sangtani et al 2018.…”