Recent Advances in Nanoparticle-Based Cancer Drug Delivery

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide, with the number of new cancer cases expected to rise to 22 million in the next two decades. Most chemotherapy drugs in the market are difficult to administer directly and many are toxic to healthy tissues and produce undesirable side effects. To overcome these limitations, recent advances in nanoparticle-based cancer drug delivery present a promising strategy to achieve high therapeutic efficiency of anticancer agents by providing protection during circulation and enhancing their bioavailability. This review describes strategies using nanoparticles to deliver anticancer agents and designs for stimuli-responsive drug release. The scope of this study is limited to only magnetic field, ultrasound, and pH stimuli-response methods. Potential adverse effects of nanoparticle accumulation in the body were also evaluated. Peer-reviewed studies that included “nanoparticle drug delivery” in the title and were published after 2014 were searched using the PubMed database. Articles published most recently were given priority. Despite the positive implication of nanoparticle cancer drug delivery to produce a greater therapeutic effect in comparison to current cancer treatments, further research regarding adverse effects is necessary. The unprecedented behavior of materials used for nanoparticle formulations, such as nonspecific toxicity and controlling penetration of biological barriers, are major hurdles to FDA approval. Long-term side effects of nanoparticles in the body and proper standards should be established for the examination of safety and efficacy issues before expanding the newly developed nanoparticle carriers into preclinical and clinical testing