‘Smart’ nanoparticles as drug delivery systems for applications in tumor therapy

Abstract

Introduction: In the therapy of clinical diseases such as cancer, it is important to deliver drugs directly to tumor sites in order to maximize local drug concentration and reduce side effects. This objective may be realized by using ‘smart’ nanoparticles (NPs) as drug delivery systems, because they enable dramatic conformational changes in response to specific physical/chemical stimuli from the diseased cells for targeted and controlled drug release.

Areas covered: In this review, we first briefly summarize the characteristics of ‘smart’ NPs as drug delivery systems in medical therapy, and then discuss their targeting transport, transmembrane and endosomal escape behaviors. Lastly, we focus on the applications of ‘smart’ NPs as drug delivery systems for tumor therapy.

Expert opinion: Biodegradable ‘smart’ NPs have the potential to achieve maximum efficacy and drug availability at the desired sites, and reduce the harmful side effects for healthy tissues in tumor therapy. It is necessary to select appropriate NPs and modify their characteristics according to treatment strategies of tumor therapy.

Keywords:

• controlled release
• drug delivery
• ‘smart’ nanoparticles
• target delivery
• tumor therapy

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immunotherapy of China Three Gorges University for providing an experimental platform for us. Z Fang and L-Y Wan contributed equally to this work and wrote the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81170412; No. 81200307) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (No. 2013CFB026). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Notes

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