Abstract
Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) plays a key role in the curative treatment of many human cancers. The full utility of this paradigm is often restricted by limitations of conventional drug delivery. Nanotherapeutics have demonstrated great potential to overcome many of these issues. The potential benefits of nanotherapeutics in CRT include improved therapeutic efficacy, decreased toxicity, enhanced real-time in vivo tumor imaging, and the translation of novel small molecule drugs or nucleic acid therapies. Additionally, nanomedicines and radiation therapy exert distinct and complementary effects on the tumor microenvironment which can further enhance therapeutic efficacy compared with either modality alone. In this review, we highlight specific clinical and preclinical examples which demonstrate the potential benefits of nanotherapeutics in CRT.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
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.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.