title: Folate-conjugated nanoparticles as a potent therapeutic approach in targeted cancer therapy.
abstract: The selective and efficient drug delivery to tumor cells can remarkably improve different cancer therapeutic approaches. There are several nanoparticles (NPs) which can act as a potent drug carrier for cancer therapy. However, the specific drug delivery to cancer cells is an important issue which should be considered before designing new NPs for in vivo application. It has been shown that cancer cells over-express folate receptor (FR) in order to improve their growth. As normal cells express a significantly lower levels of FR compared to tumor cells, it seems that folate molecules can be used as potent targeting moieties in different nanocarrier-based therapeutic approaches. Moreover, there is evidence which implies folate-conjugated NPs can selectively deliver anti-tumor drugs into cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will discuss about the efficiency of different folate-conjugated NPs in cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Behdokht
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bahrami
authors.forename: Mousa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadnia-Afrouzi
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bakhshaei
authors.forename: Yaghoub
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yazdani
authors.forename: Ghasem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ghalamfarsa
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yousefi
authors.forename: Sanam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sadreddini
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jadidi-Niaragh
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hojjat-Farsangi
mesh_terms: D004337:Drug Carriers; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008823:Micelles; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D008823:Micelles; D005492:Folic Acid