Update on Nanotechnology-based Drug Delivery Systems in Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Abstract. The Cancer is the second leading cause of death, following heart diseases (1), killing approximately eight million people (600,000 per year) and affecting nearly fourteen million (2).The rate at which cancer is emerging is only increasing as time goes on due to such factors as increased pollution, radiation, lack of exercise and a balanced diet, among other variables such as genetics (3). Anyone of these factors can lead to a mutation in the DNA of our cells like oncogenes and develop into cancer. The immortalization and sustainability of individual cells capable of reproducing at astonishing rates, overtake all the healthy functional cells, and eventually lead to death.The most common types of treatment against cancer include chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and a combination of any of these treatments. However, there are challenges associated with the traditional treatments -non-specificity, toxicity, etc. The challenge of current drug therapy is the optimization of the pharmacological action of the drug, and the minimization of its toxic side effect. Local concentration of the drug at the cancer sites needs to be high, while at other tissues low to prevent any negative reactions. Application of nanotechnology in cancer treatment has the potential to solve these limitations. Designing nanoparticles loaded with multifunctional drugs, and functionalizing their surfaces with recognition proteins can target specific cancer cells (4, 5). The advantages of such targeting include the drug amount needed to achieve a therapeutic effect may be significantly reduced as well as the drug concentration on the cancer site can be increased without any bad effects on healthy cells (6).Several nanoparticle based drug delivery systemsnanodisks, HDL nanostructures, gold nanoparticles, and viral nanoparticles -have shown encouraging results in cancer therapy. Progress has been made in studying the biological features of cancer to enhance the use of nanoparticlesovercoming biological barriers, and recognizing cancerous tissue vs. healthy tissue. Looking forward, nanodrugs have great potential in cancer therapy due to their unique properties -minimizing toxicity to healthy cells, overcoming multidrug resistance (MDR), and overcoming poor solubility of anti-cancer drugs. 5975

Developments of Smart Drug-Delivery Systems Based on Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Targeted Cancer Therapy: A Short Review

“…Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the fundamental obstacles for several chemotherapeutic agents like 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) to effect efficiently in therapy [ 6 ]. Efficiency in drug delivery means the safe transport of the drug to target sites without significant degradation of the drug and harming the body [ 7 ]. An ideal drug-delivery system (DDS) can ensure the release of the therapeutic agent at the right site and in the right dosage for the required period to maximize its efficacy by the accumulation at the site of action and reach the therapeutic concentration level within the therapeutic window while minimizing the side effects on healthy tissues [ 3 , 8 ].…”

“…Altogether showing a massive potential in terms of pharmacological enhancement and control over drugs performance in chemotherapy [ 9 , 10 ]. The use of nanotechnology for cancer treatment is an active area of biomedical research [ 7 ]. Nanomaterials had a strong influence on developing promising DDSs [ 11 ].…”

“…There is no consensus about the actual therapeutic efficacy of the developed NPs toward cancer therapy because of many different kinds of NP treatment techniques that are used. It can be said that, despite encouraging remarkable results with polymeric NPs toward cancer therapy, there has been limited clinical advancement [ 7 , 29 ]. It is hard to conclude whether they are equal to or better than conventional treatments in regards to “treating” cancer [ 7 ].…”

Delivery of siRNA to Ewing Sarcoma Tumor Xenografted on Mice, Using Hydrogenated Detonation Nanodiamonds: Treatment Efficacy and Tissue Distribution

“…The use of nanoparticles as vectors for drug delivery has been largely described by the scientific community during these past decades, with numerous applications [1,2]. Nanoparticles facilitate intracellular delivery and protection of the cargo against degradation, therefore they present many advantages for the vectorization of small nucleic acids such as small interfering RNA (siRNA).…”

Delivery of siRNA to Ewing Sarcoma Tumor Xenografted on Mice, Using Hydrogenated Detonation Nanodiamonds: Treatment Efficacy and Tissue Distribution

“…The use of nanoparticles as vectors for drug delivery has been largely described by the scientific community during these past decades, with numerous applications [1,2]. Because nanoparticles facilitate intracellular delivery and protection of the cargo against degradation, they present many advantages for the vectorization of small nucleic acids such as small interfering RNA (siRNA).…”