Multifunctional Magnetic Liposomes for Cancer Imaging and Therapeutic Applications

Liposomal Drug Delivery Systems and Anticancer Drugs

“…Cancer cells are able to spread around the human body through blood vessels and lymphatic streams, causing metastasis by forming a secondary tumour [ 29 ]. Anticancer agents are typically administered to the patients to kill cancer cells.…”

“…This can be done by disturbing the angiogenesis using antiangiogenic agents (eg, Axitinib (Inlyta®), Bevacizumab (Avastin®) and Cabozantinib (Cometriq®)) or shutting down the existing tumour blood flow, resulting in ischemia and tumour cell necrosis using vascular targeting agents (eg, 5,6-dimethylxanthenone-4-acetic acid (flavonoid derivative) and Combretastatin A-4 phosphate (tubulin binding drug) [ 37 ]. Accordingly, there is a high demand for finding a proper controlled anticancer dosage to control this disease, as it is expected to be responsible for 13.2 million death cases by 2030 [ 29 ].…”

“…As a result, sometimes the highest possible dose of chemotherapy is administrated to the patients to maximise the quantity of the medication taken up by the cancer cells [ 56 ]. The success of cancer treatment basically depends on its capability to decrease the size and remove tumours without affecting normal tissues, thus increasing patients’ survival time and enhancing their quality of life [ 29 ].…”

“…By means of passive targeting, liposomes can concentrate preferentially on the tumour (typically over 24–48 h) via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of the vasculature, in which leaky tumour vessels unite with absent lymph drainage [ 57 ]. In other words, passive targeting of liposomes happens by transferring them into the tumour interstitium via leaky tumour vasculature through molecular movement within fluids ( Figure 2 ) [ 29 ]. Liposomes can actively target tumour tissues using the antibody-based approach.…”

“…The size range of 50–200 nm was recommended [ 61 ], as the endothelium tissues in the kidney glomerulus have a pore size of 40–60 nm. However, macrophages in liver and spleen can easily remove these liposomes from blood circulation, as the pore size of sinusoidal endothelium in liver and spleen is around 150 nm [ 29 ]. More studies demonstrated that vesicles size, lipid composition, surface coating and charge [ 62 ], and liposome-plasma protein interaction all have an impact on the clearance pharmacokinetics of liposomes by the reticuloendothelial system [ 63 ].…”