Lipid-based nanoparticles in cancer diagnosis and therapy

Abstract

Today, researchers are constantly developing new nanomaterials, nanodevices, and nanoparticles to meet unmet needs in the delivery of therapeutic agents and imaging agents for cancer therapy and diagnosis, respectively. Of particular interest here are lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) that are genuine particles (approximately 100 nm in dimension) assembled from varieties of lipid and other chemical components that act collectively to overcome biological barriers (biobarriers), in order for LNPs to preferentially accumulate in or around disease-target cells for the functional delivery of therapeutic agents for treatment or of imaging agents for diagnosis. The capabilities of these LNPs will clearly vary depending on functional requirements, but the nanoscale allows for an impressive level of diversity in capabilities to enable corresponding LNPs to address an equally diverse range of functional requirements. Accordingly, LNPs should be considered appropriate vehicles to provide an integrated, personalized approach to cancer diagnosis and therapy in future cancer disease management.

Figure 1

Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API; therapeutic bioactive or intractable drug) condensed within functional concentric layers of chemical components making up nanoparticle structure designed to enable efficient delivery (trafficking) of active therapeutic agent to target cells (used with permission of GlobalAcorn Limited).

Figure 2

Schematic diagrams showing self-assembly of passively targeted Gd-ABC (top) and folate-receptor targeted Gd-ABCD nanoparticles (bottom) for IGROV-1 tumour imaging from combinations of structural lipids, PEG-lipids and imaging lipids [58, 59]. LTC: long-term circulation enabled by virtue of the use of bilayer stabilizing lipids and 7 mol% PEG-lipid in the outer leaflet membranes of nanoparticle structures.

Figure 3

Schematic of thermal trig-anostic drug-ABC nanoparticles (thermal TNPs) enabled for thermally triggered release of encapsulated drug in tumours by means of ultrasound, together with real-time, diagnostic imaging of nanoparticle biodistribution by MRI with drug pharmacokinetics.