Precise design strategies of nanomedicine for improving cancer therapeutic efficacy using subcellular targeting

Abstract

Therapeutic efficacy against cancer relies heavily on the ability of the therapeutic agents to reach their final targets. The optimal targets of most cancer therapeutic agents are usually biological macromolecules at the subcellular level, which play a key role in carcinogenesis. Therefore, to improve the therapeutic efficiency of drugs, researchers need to focus on delivering not only the therapeutic agents to the target tissues and cells but also the drugs to the relevant subcellular structures. In this review, we discuss the most recent construction strategies and release patterns of various cancer cell subcellular-targeting nanoformulations, aiming at providing guidance in the overall design of precise nanomedicine. Additionally, future challenges and potential perspectives are illustrated in the hope of enhancing anticancer efficacy and accelerating the translational progress of precise nanomedicine.

Microbial transglutaminase nanoflowers as an alternative nanomedicine for breast cancer theranostics

“…9,37 Apart from the present well-known anti-cancer drugs, there's a need to develop more effective nano-formulations for safer and more efficacious therapy. 32,33,38,39 With this perspective, we designed our novel study based on microbial transglutaminase nanoowers, which to the best of our knowledge, is a new and state-of-art approach. For anti-cancer therapy, this will be the rst anticipated novel enzymatic transglutaminase nanoowers coming into action as a nano-drug.…”

Empowering the Emission of Upconversion Nanoparticles for Precise Subcellular Imaging

“…The nonfixation approach might confirm the feasibility of the endocytosis procedure in living cells instead of creating artificial porousness on the cell membrane by fixative reagents. Innumerable studies have experimented with various strategies for targeting subcellular organelles with macromolecules and nanoparticles [46,47]. Among these approaches, confocal imaging has been heavily utilized for cellular imaging, but due to restrictions with light imaging, the resolution cannot be sufficient for visualizing the details of organelles in cells; therefore, we employed cryo-EM to elevate the resolution of microscopy from the deliberated mitochondria targeted by UCNPs.…”

Cancer Nanopharmaceuticals: Physicochemical Characterization and In Vitro/In Vivo Applications

“…Ligand/receptor targeting has proven to be an effective method for drug delivery [ 108 , 109 ]. To improve effectiveness, chemotherapeutic agents need to be administered into the cytoplasm of cellular tumor cells, or into subcellular organelles such as the nucleus and mitochondria [ 110 ]. If a linker is involved, a stable covalent bond formation is essential between the linker/receptor and the drug.…”