Cancer bone metastases and nanotechnology-based treatment strategies

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Bone metastases have gradually been recognized as common metastases that affect patient quality of life and survival due to the increased incidence of primary tumors. However, there is still a lack of effective clinical treatment methods for bone metastases because of their particularity and complexity. Nanomedicine provides a new strategy for the treatment of bone metastases and shows great therapeutic potential. Thus, it is important to review the latest nanomedicine treatments for bone metastases.

Areas covered

This review introduces the mechanistic relationships of bone metastases and summarizes nanotechnology-based treatments of bone metastases according to targeting strategies.

Expert opinion

As we start to understand the mechanisms that enable bone metastases, we can better develop nanomedicine treatments. However, many of the mechanisms behind bone metastasis remain unclear. The application of nanomedicine shows promising anti-bone metastasis efficacy and helps to explore the pathogenesis of bone metastases. The optimized construction of nanomedicine according to bone metastatic properties is crucial to ensure the desired anti-bone metastasis efficacy and good biosafety. Therefore, the transition from bench to bedside still requires continued exploration.

KEYWORDS:

• Bone metastases
• drug delivery
• nanomedicine
• nanotechnology
• targeted therapies

Article highlights

• Bone metastases are becoming an increasingly common clinical challenge for which there is currently no cure.

• This review introduces the clinical features and current clinical palliative therapy of bone metastases.

• The development of bone metastases involves multiple steps, including the establishment of premetastatic niches, tumor cell colonization and dormancy, and tumor cell reactivation and development.

• Advances in nanomedicine treatment for bone metastases are summarized according to delivery strategies.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [82174142]; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province [2021A1515410001], Sichuan health research project (2022-216) and Zhuhai Xiangshan Talent Project [2021XSYC-01].