Targeted Drug Delivery for Breast Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Breast cancer is the commonest type of malignant tumor in women, comprising of about 30% of all cancers in women worldwide. In the past decades, the mortality of breast cancer patients has significantly been reduced due to the adoption of periodic breast cancer screening and the emergence of various treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Currently, chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for breast cancer. Its side effects, however, pose a long-term challenge on a patient's health. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop new therapies that can specifically target carcinoma cells without damaging normal and healthy cells. Tremendous efforts have been made to develop targeted drug delivery systems for breast cancer treatment. In this review, we intend to systematically examine recent progresses made along these directions. We highlighted various delivery carriers designed for directing the diffusion of therapeutic agents inside tumors to kill or suppress breast cancer cells. These carriers include molecular-recognition-element modified anticancer agents, stem cells that have tropism to breast cancers, nanoparticle-based anticancer drugs, and anticancer peptides. In particular, we discussed recent patents on the new targeted therapeutic delivery systems, with an emphasis on triple-negative breast cancer therapies.

Ethanol Extract of Brucea javanica Seed Inhibit Triple-Negative Breast Cancer by Restraining Autophagy via PI3K/Akt/mTOR Pathway

“…Breast cancer, especially TNBC, remains a serious health challenge worldwide, and ongoing attempts have been made to explore and develop novel targets or treatment strategies for it. Although chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and targeting therapy agents have been used as clinical recommended systemic therapies, numerous breast cancer patients still suffered from relapses due to the tumor heterogeneity, moreover, side effects of these therapies have threatened quality of life and increased treatment cost (Jin and Ye, 2013;Tang et al, 2016). As alternative remedies, natural products have drawn increasing attention in cancer treatment due to their novel efficacies and safety.…”

Engineering Tumor-Targeting Nanoparticles as Vehicles for Precision Nanomedicine

“…The liposomal formulation of this anticancer drug not only provides a long half-life and enhanced tumor deposition, but also lowers the incidence of cardiotoxicity, myelosuppression, alopecia, and nausea [7,17]. NP formulations using liposome-derived NPs for the treatment and diagnosis of breast cancer have also shown promise in improving drug efficacy with targeted delivery and prolonged circulation in the system and reducing side-effect on other organs caused by chemotherapy drugs [146]. Abraxane® has been approved for the use of breast cancer treatment, while three other NP formulations, including liposomal Paclitaxel, liposomal Cisplatin, and PEGylated liposomal Irinotecan, are going through clinical trial approval [147].…”

Organ-on-a-chip platforms for studying drug delivery systems

“…New delivery systems have been proposed in recent years to meet the demand for developing safer chemotherapeutic strategies for breast cancer, one of the commonest type of tumor in women [139]. These include liposomal nanoparticles used to deliver DOX [140] and albumin-bound Paclitaxel delivery system [141].…”