Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Bone Metastasis in Breast Cancer: Recent Advances and Challenges

Abstract

Although the frequency of bone metastases from breast cancer has increased, effective treatment is lacking, prompting the development of nanomedicine, which involves the use of nanotechnology for disease diagnosis and treatment. Nanocarrier drug delivery systems offer several advantages over traditional drug delivery methods, such as higher reliability and biological activity, improved penetration and retention, and precise targeting and delivery. Various nanoparticles that can selectively target tumor cells without causing harm to healthy cells or organs have been synthesized. Recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled the diagnosis and prevention of metastatic diseases as well as the ability to deliver complex molecular “cargo” particles to metastatic regions. Nanoparticles can modulate systemic biodistribution and enable the targeted accumulation of therapeutic agents. Several delivery strategies are used to treat bone metastases, including untargeted delivery, bone-targeted delivery, and cancer cell-targeted delivery. Combining targeted agents with nanoparticles enhances the selective delivery of payloads to breast cancer bone metastatic lesions, providing multiple delivery advantages for treatment. In this review, we describe recent advances in nanoparticle development for treating breast cancer bone metastases.

Keywords:

• breast cancer
• bone metastasis
• nanoparticle
• drug delivery

Acknowledgments

We sincerely appreciate Huifang Li from the Core Facility of West China Hospital for her assistance and suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82202989); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M722279, China); Sichuan Science and Technology Program (No. 2023YFS0163, China); Postdoctoral Research Project of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China (No. 2021HXBH045); Sichuan Province Science and Technology Activities Funding for Returned Overseas Scholars (awarded to Lingling Zhu); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (awarded to Lingling Zhu); and Sichuan University Postdoctoral Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund (2022SCU12063, awarded to Lingling Zhu).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest to declare for this work.