Nanocarriers for Anticancer Drugs - New Trends in Nanomedicine

Jana      Drbohlavova; Jana      Chomoucka; Vojtech      Adam; Marketa      Ryvolova; Tomas      Eckschlager; Jaromir      Hubalek; Rene      Kizek

doi:10.2174/1389200211314050005

Abstract

This review provides a brief overview of the variety of carriers employed for targeted drug delivery used in cancer therapy and summarizes advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Particularly, the attention was paid to polymeric nanocarriers, liposomes, micelles, polyethylene glycol, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), dendrimers, gold and magnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots, silica nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes. Further, this paper briefly focuses on several anticancer agents (paclitaxel, docetaxel, camptothecin, doxorubicin, daunorubicin, cisplatin, curcumin, and geldanamycin) and on the influence of their combination with nanoparticulate transporters to their properties such as cytotoxicity, short life time and/or solubility.

Keywords: Nanotechnologies, nanoparticles, gene therapy, anticancer drugs, drug carriers, cancer, cytostatic, targeted therapy.