title: Recent advances in lymphatic targeted drug delivery system for tumor metastasis.
abstract: The lymphatic system has an important defensive role in the human body. The metastasis of most tumors initially spreads through the surrounding lymphatic tissue and eventually forms lymphatic metastatic tumors; the tumor cells may even transfer to other organs to form other types of tumors. Clinically, lymphatic metastatic tumors develop rapidly. Given the limitations of surgical resection and the low effectiveness of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the treatment of lymphatic metastatic tumors remains a great challenge. Lymph node metastasis may lead to the further spread of tumors and may be predictive of the endpoint event. Under these circumstances, novel and effective lymphatic targeted drug delivery systems have been explored to improve the specificity of anticancer drugs to tumor cells in lymph nodes. In this review, we summarize the principles of lymphatic targeted drug delivery and discuss recent advances in the development of lymphatic targeted carriers.
authors.affiliation: 1 Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China ; 2 Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China ; 2 Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Yue
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lu
keywords: Lymphatic metastatic tumor; liposome; lymphatic system; metastasis; nanoparticle; polymer micelle (PM); targeted drug delivery system