Nanostructured Drug Delivery Systems for Targeted Therapy of Cancer

Recently, nanostructured drug delivery systems have been investigated as delivery systems for chemotherapeutic agents in cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to review nanostructured carriers for targeted drug delivery of chemotherapeutic agents.

Data of this review article were collected by searching PubMed and WOS (Web of Science) using the keywords of cancer, nanomedicine, nanoparticles, liposome and solubility.

Among the various nanostructured drug delivery systems, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), polymeric nanoparticles, micelles, albumin nanoparticles and drug-polymer conjugates have been used to develop the efficient delivery systems of chemotherapeutics for cancer treatment. Many chemotherapeutic drugs are highly hydrophobic with low aqueous solubility. Furthermore, non-specificity, toxicity and drug resistance are the main drawbacks of cancer treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs. Use of nanostructured delivery systems is the main approach to overcome drug resistance, reduce side effects and improve treatment efficacy. Additionally nanostructures containing two or more drugs for combination therapy of cancer are challenging issues that can increase the treatment efficiency by synergistic effects and decreasing drug resistance.

Although the development of various nanostructured drug delivery systems for chemotherapeutics are under investigation, few number of these systems have been used in clinical studies and entered the pharmaceutical market as approved nanomedicines