Nanodelivery systems: An efficient and target-specific approach for drug-resistant cancers

Abstract

Background: Cancer treatment is still a global health challenge. Nowadays, chemotherapy is widely applied for treating cancer and reducing its burden. However, its application might be in accordance with various adverse effects by exposing the healthy tissues and multidrug resistance (MDR), leading to disease relapse or metastasis. In addition, due to tumor heterogeneity and the varied pharmacokinetic features of prescribed drugs, combination therapy has only shown modestly improved results in MDR malignancies. Nanotechnology has been explored as a potential tool for cancer treatment, due to the efficiency of nanoparticles to function as a vehicle for drug delivery.

Methods: With this viewpoint, functionalized nanosystems have been investigated as a potential strategy to overcome drug resistance.

Results: This approach aims to improve the efficacy of anticancer medicines while decreasing their associated side effects through a range of mechanisms, such as bypassing drug efflux, controlling drug release, and disrupting metabolism. This review discusses the MDR mechanisms contributing to therapeutic failure, the most cutting-edge approaches used in nanomedicine to create and assess nanocarriers, and designed nanomedicine to counteract MDR with emphasis on recent developments, their potential, and limitations.

Conclusions: Studies have shown that nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery confers distinct benefits over traditional pharmaceuticals, including improved biocompatibility, stability, permeability, retention effect, and targeting capabilities.

Keywords: cancer; chemotherapy; drug delivery; drug resistance; nanomedicine.

FIGURE 1

(A) Nanomedicine's theoretical passive targeting (EPR effect) is depicted schematically. (B) Nanomedicine that is actively targeted and grafted with a peptide or antibody that can bind to a particular receptor that is overexpressed by either cancer cells or endothelial cells.

FIGURE 2

An illustration of the primary inorganic nanoparticles under investigation for battling MDR in cancer. Nanomedicines are shown in the diagram from left to right. There have been reports of potential functionalization using targeted ligands and external stimuli used to stimulate drug release. IO, iron oxide; MDR, multidrug resistance; NIR, near‐infrared.

FIGURE 3

An illustration of the primary organic nanoparticles under investigation for preventing MDR in cancer. Various polymeric and lipid‐based NPs are shown from the left to the right side. There have been reports of potential functionalization, including targeted ligands and external stimuli used to initiate drug release. MDR, multidrug resistance; SLN, solid lipid nanoparticles; NLCs, nanostructures lipid carriers.

FIGURE 4

Nanoparticle‐based approaches to cancer cell targeting.