Recent Advances in Polymer Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery of Adjuvants in Colorectal Cancer Treatment: A Scientific-Technological Analysis and Review

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the type with the second highest morbidity. Recently, a great number of bioactive compounds and encapsulation techniques have been developed. Thus, this paper aims to review the drug delivery strategies for chemotherapy adjuvant treatments for CRC, including an initial scientific-technological analysis of the papers and patents related to cancer, CRC, and adjuvant treatments. For 2018, a total of 167,366 cancer-related papers and 306,240 patents were found. Adjuvant treatments represented 39.3% of the total CRC patents, indicating the importance of adjuvants in the prognosis of patients. Chemotherapy adjuvants can be divided into two groups, natural and synthetic (5-fluorouracil and derivatives). Both groups can be encapsulated using polymers. Polymer-based drug delivery systems can be classified according to polymer nature. From those, anionic polymers have garnered the most attention, because they are pH responsive. The use of polymers tailors the desorption profile, improving drug bioavailability and enhancing the local treatment of CRC via oral administration. Finally, it can be concluded that antioxidants are emerging compounds that can complement today’s chemotherapy treatments. In the long term, encapsulated antioxidants will replace synthetic drugs and will play an important role in curing CRC.

Computational Analysis of Nanocarriers in the Tumor Microenvironment for the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

“…From the literature, it is known that once the drug is ingested, the vectorized nanocarriers travel through the gastrointestinal system reaching the region of the colon where the lesion is located. The maximum mean inhibitory concentration of C p = 13.5 µg mL used [32,33] allowed for the adequate parameterization of the initial absorption conditions of the drug through the mucosal layer, which contributed to obtaining more precise results in terms of the mass flow of the nanoparticles.…”

“…If the fluid absorption rate in the colon is 2.83 mL min [47], and a concentration of liposomes C p = 13.5 µg mL is used [33,38], the mass flow of liposomes obtained for the entire area of the colon would be ṁP = 6.38 × 10 −10 kg s . From this value, the speed of the particles is obtained using Equation (2), which corresponds to V p = 3.36 × 10 −13 m s .…”

Polymeric Nanoparticles as Anticancer Drug Delivery Systems of Certain Phytochemicals: A Comprehensive Overview

“…Chitosan (CS) is a unique Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cationic polysaccharide for drug delivery derived from the deacetylation of chitin, consisting of β-(1→4)-linked d-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) as well as N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (acetylated unit) [24][25][26] . The length of the resulting CS polymers and the amount of acetyl residues will vary depending on deacetylation reaction, which results in a wide range of molecular weight (Mwt) varying from 300 to over 1000 kDa.…”

Current Landscape in Organic Nanosized Materials Advances for Improved Management of Colorectal Cancer Patients

“…Synthetic polymers can be easily tuned to exhibit desirable properties showing low toxicity, biocompatibility, and good drug encapsulation efficiency [ 173 , 174 ]. For example, poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrroildone) (PVP) is one of the promising polymers for use in colorectal cancer therapy [ 175 ]. On the one hand, the introduction of hydrophobic end groups allows the formation of aggregates of amphiphilic PVP chains capable of incorporating pharmacologically active substances, as well as selectively delivering them to the cell nucleus [ 176 ] without hydrolytic destruction in lysosomes.…”