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Review
. 2021 Mar 25;18(2):319-335.
doi: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2020.0496.

Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers for therapeutic applications in cancer

Xubo Zhao  1 , Jie Bai  1 , Wenjing Yang  2
Affiliations
Review

Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers for therapeutic applications in cancer

Xubo Zhao et al. Cancer Biol Med. .

Abstract

Cancer has become a very serious challenge with aging of the human population. Advances in nanotechnology have provided new perspectives in the treatment of cancer. Through the combination of nanotechnology and therapeutics, nanomedicine has been successfully used to treat cancer in recent years. In terms of nanomedicine, nanocarriers play a key role in delivering therapeutic agents, reducing severe side effects, simplifying the administration scheme, and improving therapeutic efficacies. Modulations of the structure and function of nanocarriers for improved therapeutic efficacy in cancer have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers penetrate deeply into tissues and respond to external or internal stimuli by releasing the therapeutic agent for cancer therapy. Notably, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers reduce the severe side effects of therapeutic agents, when compared with systemic chemotherapy, and achieve controlled drug release at tumor sites. Therefore, the development of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers plays a crucial role in drug delivery for cancer therapy. This article focuses on the development of nanomaterials with stimuli-responsive properties for use as nanocarriers, in the last few decades. These nanocarriers are more effective at delivering the therapeutic agent under the control of external or internal stimuli. Furthermore, nanocarriers with theranostic features have been designed and fabricated to confirm their great potential in achieving effective treatment of cancer, which will provide us with better choices for cancer therapy.

Keywords: Nanocarriers; cancer therapy; nanomedicine; stimuli-responsiveness; therapeutic agent.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflicts of interest are disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration of the formation of nanomedicine for cancer therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Delivery pathway of therapeutic agents through nanocarriers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Examples of common therapeutic agents used in drug delivery for cancer therapy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Summary of common nanocarriers used to treat cancer.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The design of “triggerable” units that respond to internal or external stimuli for the delivery of therapeutic agents.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Drug release from stimuli-responsive nanocarriers triggered through internal stimulus.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Drug release from stimuli-responsive nanocarriers triggered through external stimulus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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