title: Review: doxorubicin delivery systems based on chitosan for cancer therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review sheds insight into an increasingly popular polymer that has been widely explored as a potential drug delivery system. The abundant, biodegradable and biocompatible polysaccharide chitosan, with many other favourable properties, has been favoured as a drug delivery system for the purposes of encapsulating and delivery of doxorubicin with reduced side-effects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Doxorubicin is frequently used as a frontline chemotherapeutic agent against a variety of cancers. It has largely been able to demonstrate anti-tumour effects, though there are major shortfalls of doxorubicin, which include serious side-effects such as cardiomyopathy and myelosuppression, and also an ever-present danger of extravasation during drug administration. In view of this, drug delivery systems are currently being explored as alternative methods of drug delivery in a bid to more effectively direct doxorubicin to the specific lesion site and reduce its systemic side-effects. Liposomes and dendrimers have been tested as potential carriers for doxorubicin; however they are not the focus of this review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent advancements in doxorubicin and chitosan technology have shown some preliminary though promising results for cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Surgery, University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mei Lin
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Peter F M
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Choong
authors.forename: Crispin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Dass
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D004337:Drug Carriers; D004317:Doxorubicin; D048271:Chitosan