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. 2012:2012:915375.
doi: 10.1155/2012/915375. Epub 2012 Apr 26.

Combination drug delivery approaches in metastatic breast cancer

Jun H Lee  1 , Anjan Nan
Affiliations

Combination drug delivery approaches in metastatic breast cancer

Jun H Lee et al. J Drug Deliv. 2012.

Abstract

Disseminated metastatic breast cancer needs aggressive treatment due to its reduced response to anticancer treatment and hence low survival and quality of life. Although in theory a combination drug therapy has advantages over single-agent therapy, no appreciable survival enhancement is generally reported whereas increased toxicity is frequently seen in combination treatment especially in chemotherapy. Currently used combination treatments in metastatic breast cancer will be discussed with their challenges leading to the introduction of novel combination anticancer drug delivery systems that aim to overcome these challenges. Widely studied drug delivery systems such as liposomes, dendrimers, polymeric nanoparticles, and water-soluble polymers can concurrently carry multiple anticancer drugs in one platform. These carriers can provide improved target specificity achieved by passive and/or active targeting mechanisms.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of various combination drug delivery approaches for treatment of cancer. (a) combination of small molecule chemotherapeutic agents, (b) combination of target specific biologic agents including monoclonal antibodies, and small molecule chemotherapeutics (c) carrier-mediated combination drug delivery (see Figures 2 to 5 for structures of various carriers).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Combination drug delivery systems based on liposomes. (a) Combination of drugs encapsulated in the hydrophilic core of liposome (b) polymer-caged nanobin (PCN); liposome-based hybrid system carrying a combination of encapsulated drug and conjugated drug.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Combination drug delivery systems based on dendrimers: concurrent delivery of water-soluble and -insoluble drugs by adsorption to the surface (ionic interaction), encapsulation within hydrophobic microcavities inside branching clefts or direct covalent conjugation to the surface functional groups.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Combination drug delivery systems based on polymeric nanoparticles: (a) micellar polymeric nanoparticle, (b) nonmicellar polymeric nanoparticles.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Combination drug delivery systems based on water-soluble polymer conjugates.
Figure 6
Figure 6
TRZ-STP-PKI166 conjugate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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