Abstract
Cancer is a leading cause of mortality, and its individual and collective impact is substantial. Conventional chemotherapy utilizes drugs that effectively destroy tumour cells. However, these agents destroy healthy cells along with the tumour cells, leading to many adverse effects, which include hypersensitivity reactions, nephrotoxicity, and neurotoxicity. To minimize these adverse effects, various drug delivery systems (DDSs) have been developed. Among them, nano drug delivery systems are particularly attractive platform. Thus, this review paper explores recent work on targeted delivery; tumour accumulation enhancement and sustained blood circulation using more effective biomaterials to enhance the properties of nanoparticles. Moreover, various target-specific drug delivery mechanisms, such as antibody-mediated delivery as well as the targeting of angiogenesis, mitochondria, and the CD44 receptor, are also explained.
Keywords: Nanotechnology, targeted delivery, general principles, nanoparticles, tumour, cancer.
Graphical Abstract