Cancer, Drug Targeting and Targeted Therapies

ABSTRACT

Cancer is one of the major causes of mortality worldwide and advanced techniques for therapy are urgently needed. Although there are many newly advanced research on new strategies, current treatments are still limited to surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. These new nanocarriers could be increased the concentration and therapeutic index of drugs in the tumor tissue, and further pharmacokinetic properties. The development of novel nanocarriers has allowed a major drive to improve drug delivery in cancer. The major aim of most nanocarrier applications has been to protect the drug from rapid degradation after systemic delivery and allowing it to reach tumor site at therapeutic concentrations, meanwhile avoiding drug delivery to normal sites as much as possible to reduce adverse effects. Nowadays, many researchers from various disciplines are working on developing new drug delivery systems in order to minimize the increasing problems of old drugs and translate them to clinical efficacy. Nanotechnology focuses on the formulation of therapeutic agents in liposomes and nanoparticles (nanoparticles, nanocapsules, micelles and dendrimers). These nanocarriers can provide targeted drug delivery to the diseased part of the body. Nanocarriers have really great potential in cancer treatment, diagnosis and imaging. Further studies in nanomedicine will improve therapeutic window of drugs with immensely reduced side effects leading to improved patient outcomes. It is foreseen that in the next 10 years, we will witness the widespread use of these treatment methods in combination with standard treatments not only for cancer but also for other diseases.