Nano-Drug Delivery Systems Targeting CAFs: A Promising Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Currently, pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal malignant tumors. PC is typically diagnosed at a late stage, exhibits a poor response to conventional treatment, and has a bleak prognosis. Unfortunately, PC’s survival rate has not significantly improved since the 1960s. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a key component of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment (TME). They play a vital role in maintaining the extracellular matrix and facilitating the intricate communication between cancer cells and infiltrated immune cells. Exploring therapeutic approaches targeting CAFs may reverse the current landscape of PC therapy. In recent years, nano-drug delivery systems have evolved rapidly and have been able to accurately target and precisely release drugs with little or no toxicity to the whole body. In this review, we will comprehensively discuss the origin, heterogeneity, potential targets, and recent advances in the nano-drug delivery system of CAFs in PC. We will also propose a novel integrated treatment regimen that utilizes a nano-drug delivery system to target CAFs in PC, combined with radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Additionally, we will address the challenges that this regimen currently faces.

Keywords:

• nanoparticle
• nano-drug delivery system
• cancer-associated fibroblasts
• pancreatic cancer
• tumor microenvironment

Data Sharing Statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Science and Technology Development Plan of Jilin (20210402026GH), and Research plan by Health Commission of Jilin Province (2020SCZT066).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.