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Review
. 2020 Mar 3:15:1437-1456.
doi: 10.2147/IJN.S236927. eCollection 2020.

Nanocarrier-Based Therapeutics and Theranostics Drug Delivery Systems for Next Generation of Liver Cancer Nanodrug Modalities

Umme Ruman  1 , Sharida Fakurazi  2   3 , Mas Jaffri Masarudin  1   2   4 , Mohd Zobir Hussein  1
Affiliations
Review

Nanocarrier-Based Therapeutics and Theranostics Drug Delivery Systems for Next Generation of Liver Cancer Nanodrug Modalities

Umme Ruman et al. Int J Nanomedicine. .

Abstract

The development of therapeutics and theranostic nanodrug delivery systems have posed a challenging task for the current researchers due to the requirement of having various nanocarriers and active agents for better therapy, imaging, and controlled release of drugs efficiently in one platform. The conventional liver cancer chemotherapy has many negative effects such as multiple drug resistance (MDR), high clearance rate, severe side effects, unwanted drug distribution to the specific site of liver cancer and low concentration of drug that finally reaches liver cancer cells. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel strategies and novel nanocarriers that will carry the drug molecules specific to the affected cancerous hepatocytes in an adequate amount and duration within the therapeutic window. Therapeutics and theranostic systems have advantages over conventional chemotherapy due to the high efficacy of drug loading or drug encapsulation efficiency, high cellular uptake, high drug release, and minimum side effects. These nanocarriers possess high drug accumulation in the tumor area while minimizing toxic effects on healthy tissues. This review focuses on the current research on nanocarrier-based therapeutics and theranostic drug delivery systems excluding the negative consequences of nanotechnology in the field of drug delivery systems. However, clinical developments of theranostics nanocarriers for liver cancer are considered outside of the scope of this article. This review discusses only the recent developments of nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems for liver cancer therapy and diagnosis. The negative consequences of individual nanocarrier in the drug delivery system will also not be covered in this review.

Keywords: drug delivery systems; liver cancer; modalities; nanocarrier; nanodrug; theranostics; therapeutics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Various nanocarriers for liver cancer targeted drug delivery applications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Theranostics nanocarrier model.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Nanocarriers (NCs) uptake in different liver cells.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Nanocarriers elimination in liver from the bloodstream.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic diagram showing possible nanocarriers clearance.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Passive targeting of nanocarriers to the liver cells.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Active targeting of nanocarriers to the liver.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Receptors present on liver cells for nanocarriers binding via active targeting to the liver cells.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Nanocarrier encapsulated liver cancer drug for drug delivery to the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) orthotopic model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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