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Review
. 2021 Nov 17;26(22):6929.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26226929.

Antineoplastics Encapsulated in Nanostructured Lipid Carriers

Gustavo Henrique Rodrigues da Silva  1 , Ludmilla David de Moura  1 , Fabíola Vieira de Carvalho  1 , Gabriela Geronimo  1 , Talita Cesarim Mendonça  1 , Fernando Freitas de Lima  1 , Eneida de Paula  1
Affiliations
Review

Antineoplastics Encapsulated in Nanostructured Lipid Carriers

Gustavo Henrique Rodrigues da Silva et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Ideally, antineoplastic treatment aims to selectively eradicate cancer cells without causing systemic toxicity. A great number of antineoplastic agents (AAs) are available nowadays, with well-defined therapeutic protocols. The poor bioavailability, non-selective action, high systemic toxicity, and lack of effectiveness of most AAs have stimulated the search for novel chemotherapy protocols, including technological approaches that provide drug delivery systems (DDS) for gold standard medicines. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are DDS that contain a core of solid and lipid liquids stabilised by surfactants. NLC have high upload capacity for lipophilic drugs, such as the majority of AAs. These nanoparticles can be prepared with a diversity of biocompatible (synthetic or natural) lipid blends, administered by different routes and functionalised for targeting purposes. This review focused on the research carried out from 2000 to now, regarding NLC formulations for AAs (antimetabolites, antimitotics, alkylating agents, and antibiotics) encapsulation, with special emphasis on studies carried out in vivo. NLC systems for codelivery of AAs were also considered, as well as those for non-classical drugs and therapies (natural products and photosensitisers). NLC have emerged as powerful DDS to improve the bioavailability, targeting and efficacy of antineoplastics, while decreasing their toxic effect in the treatment of different types of cancer.

Keywords: antineoplastics; cancer; drug delivery; nanostructured lipid carriers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of antineoplastics agents described in the main text.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Publications in PubMed platform relating the terms antineoplastics and nanostructured lipid carriers from 2000 to 2020; (B) distribution of the analysed articles regarding the class of antineoplastic agent (AA); (C) distribution of the analysed articles regarding the antineoplastic agent.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Most frequent NLC excipients: solid lipids (A); liquid lipids (B); surfactants (C), and techniques used for the characterisation of NLC in the reviewed articles (D). See Table S1 for details.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Main research and results obtained by the encapsulation of doxorubicin in nanostructured lipid carriers (abbreviations as in Table S1).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Main results reported for AAs-in-NLC formulations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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