Nanocarrier based approaches for targeting breast cancer stem cells

Abstract

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are heterogeneous subpopulation of tumour initiating cells within breast tumours. They are spared even after chemotherapy and responsible for tumour relapse. Targeting BCSCs is, therefore, necessary to achieve radical cure in breast cancer. Despite the availability of agents targeting BCSCs, their clinical application is limited due to their off-target effects and bioavailability issues. Nanotechnology based drug carriers (nanocarriers) offer various advantages to deliver anti-BCSCs agents specifically to their target sites by overcoming their bioavailability issues. In this review, we describe various strategies for targeting BCSCs using nanocarriers.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Breast cancer stem cells
• nanocarriers
• drug targeting
• surface biomarkers
• self-renewal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.