Macrophages As Delivery Vehicles for Anticancer Agents

Abstract

The delivery of anticancer agents via passive approaches such as the enhanced permeability and retention effect is unlikely to achieve sufficient concentrations throughout the tumor volume for effective treatment. Cell-based delivery approaches using tumor tropic cells have the potential to overcome the limitations of passive approaches. Specifically, this review focuses on the use of monocytes/macrophages for the delivery of a variety of anticancer agents, including nanoparticles, chemotherapeutics and gene constructs. The efficacy of this delivery approach, both as monotherapy and in combination with light-based phototherapy modalities, has been demonstrated in numerous in vitro and animal studies, however, its clinical potential remains to be determined.

Keywords:

• chemotherapeutics
• gene therapy
• gliomas
• gold–silica nanoshells
• macrophages
• monocytes
• nanoparticles
• photochemical internalization
• photodynamic therapy
• photothermal therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by grants from the Norwegian Radium Hospital Research Foundation. Portions of this work were made possible through access to the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (LAMMP) at the Beckman Laser Institute. S Madsen was supported, in part, by the Tony and Renee Marlon Charitable Foundation. 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.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.