title: Polymeric nanoparticles for targeted treatment in oncology: current insights.
abstract: Chemotherapy, a major strategy for cancer treatment, lacks the specificity to localize the cancer therapeutics in the tumor site, thereby affecting normal healthy tissues and advocating toxic adverse effects. Nanotechnological intervention has greatly revolutionized the therapy of cancer by surmounting the current limitations in conventional chemotherapy, which include undesirable biodistribution, cancer cell drug resistance, and severe systemic side effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) achieve preferential accumulation in the tumor site by virtue of their passive and ligand-based targeting mechanisms. Polymer-based nanomedicine, an arena that entails the use of polymeric NPs, polymer micelles, dendrimers, polymersomes, polyplexes, polymer-lipid hybrid systems, and polymer-drug/protein conjugates for improvement in efficacy of cancer therapeutics, has been widely explored. The broad scope for chemically modifying the polymer into desired construct makes it a versatile delivery system. Several polymer-based therapeutic NPs have been approved for clinical use. This review provides an insight into the advances in polymer-based targeted nanocarriers with focus on therapeutic aspects in the field of oncology.
authors: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India.
authors: Rashmi H
authors: RH
authors: Prabhu
authors: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India.
authors: Vandana B
authors: VB
authors: Patravale
authors: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chicago College of Pharmacy, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA.
authors: Medha D
authors: MD
authors: Joshi
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D050997:Nanomedicine; D053758:Nanoparticles; D011108:Polymers; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011108:Polymers
keywords: cancer; ligand-based delivery; passive delivery; polymeric nanoparticles